Start Position
1. CALL TO ORDER - PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE   2. REGULAR AGENDA ITEMS:
A. Information/Discussion regarding groundwater and groundwater management in Arizona and Gila County. (Chris Kuzdas)
B. Information/Discussion regarding vacation rentals by owner in Gila County. (Woody Cline)
C. Information/Discussion regarding funds in support of the Payson Senior Center. (Steve Christensen)
D. Information/Discussion regarding the bid process and prospective timelines for the Facilities Department's capital improvement projects. (Joseph Dickison)   E. Information/Discussion regarding status updates on the Facilities Department's improvement capital projects. (Joseph Dickison/Dub Brittain)   F. Information/Discussion regarding funding and implementation of the GilaPROUD project. (Aimee Staten)   G. Information/Discussion regarding 2024 Gila County budget requests and updates from April 25 work session. (Maryn Belling)   H. Information/Discussion regarding the ongoing, planned, and future Public Works Department's revenues, expenditures, and projects. (Homero Vela)   I.  Information/Discussion regarding an update on Recycling and Landfill Division revenues and expenditures, including projected costs for future capital expansion for the landfill operations. (Homero Vela)   J. Information/Discussion regarding an update on the status of County vehicles, and procurement recommendations for FY 2024. (Homero Vela)   3.  CALL TO THE PUBLIC:  A call to the public is held for public benefit to allow individuals to address the Board of Supervisors on any issue within the jurisdiction of the Board of Supervisors. Board members may not discuss items that are not specifically identified on the agenda. Therefore, pursuant to Arizona Revised Statute § 38-431.01(H), at the conclusion of an open call to the public, individual members of the Board of Supervisors may respond to criticism made by those who have addressed the Board, may ask staff to review a matter or may ask that a matter be put on a future agenda for further discussion and decision at a future date.   4.  At any time during this meeting pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.02(K), members of the Board of Supervisors and the County Manager may present a brief summary of current events.  No action may be taken on the information presented.  IF SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS ARE NEEDED, PLEASE CONTACT THE RECEPTIONIST AT (928) 425-3231 AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE TO ARRANGE THE ACCOMMODATIONS. FOR TTY, PLEASE DIAL 7-1-1 TO REACH THE ARIZONA RELAY SERVICE AND ASK THE OPERATOR TO CONNECT YOU TO (928) 425-3231. THE BOARD MAY VOTE TO HOLD AN EXECUTIVE SESSION FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING LEGAL ADVICE FROM THE BOARD’S ATTORNEY ON ANY MATTER LISTED ON THE AGENDA PURSUANT TO A.R.S. §38-431.03(A)(3). THE ORDER OR DELETION OF ANY ITEM ON THIS AGENDA IS SUBJECT TO MODIFICATION AT THE MEETING.
What? 00:00:03
How are you? 00:00:05
Thought you had to help. 00:00:07
Yeah, we could be in the world of hurt you on her job. 00:00:15
Where am I? I don't even know where I am today. 00:00:24
Richie. 00:00:35
Item number, we're taking it off. 00:00:38
We're supposed to move that to the next? 00:00:41
OK, so we're gonna vote Geneva. 00:00:44
Table OK. 00:00:49
This one. 00:00:51
We don't get talk about money today, huh? 00:00:58
Good. 00:01:02
Good, Sam. 00:01:05
Kathy's good. 00:01:07
Alright, good morning, everyone. Are we getting patient? 00:01:09
Hello, Payson. 00:01:15
Now we can talk to you. 00:01:19
Good morning, Payton. You guys good to go. 00:01:20
Right on Joseph, you good YouTube. 00:01:24
We're good here, so we'll get started at 10:00 o'clock Tuesday, May 30th. 00:01:27
And I'll call this to order. Steve, would you need us in the pledge this morning, please? 00:01:31
And. 00:01:43
You should. 00:01:46
All right. We'll get started with our regular agenda items. And this is a work session today, so I'm hoping we'll have a lot of 00:01:58
really good discussion on all this. 00:02:03
And two, a information discussion regarding the groundwater and groundwater management in Arizona and Healy County and we have 00:02:08
Chris here. Chris, if you just step up the podium and state your name and where you're from. 00:02:13
Morning, everybody. Chris Custis, I Co lead the Water for Arizona Coalition. I'm from Northern Arizona. 00:02:21
Good deal. 00:02:29
So tell us about groundwater, Chris. 00:02:31
Thank you, supervisors. I appreciate the invitation today to talk about water. 00:02:34
Were I'm sure many of you hear from your constituents concerns ideas about water. Heela County, you're certainly not alone. And so 00:02:40
I was asked to come here today to talk about what's happening around the state. I'm primarily going to talk about groundwater from 00:02:47
a statewide perspective, especially focusing on rural Arizona and how rural communities have been approaching their issues that 00:02:54
are increasingly popping up in different parts of the state. We'll talk about that. 00:03:02
And what they have been working on in recent years and so. 00:03:10
To get started, ohh, I'd say I have a clicker here. 00:03:14
Yes. So get started. We're going to talk about groundwater, what it is, what it looks like in in in the state of Arizona's water 00:03:17
supply portfolio. We'll get into a little bit of hydrogeology. I promise it won't be too bad. We'll talk about how groundwater is 00:03:24
managed or not throughout the state. And then we'll get into what rural communities have been, what they've been doing and asking 00:03:30
for in recent years in response to challenges they're seeing. 00:03:37
Going down, when that goes down, the groundwater slice is going to be increasing. So the result of less Colorado River water being 00:04:15
delivered to the state, increasing dependence on groundwater. The orange slice in state rivers that's primarily the salt 30 Heela 00:04:21
system. So these rivers, they are very responsive to. 00:04:27
Rain events. 00:04:34
Snow runoff, just look what happened this winter. But a number of these rivers are also groundwater dependent. So for example, 00:04:35
Tonto Creek, I have great memories of fishing with my grandpa in Tonga Creek. Great spots right behind tonsils. Zona, right. So 00:04:42
again, that orange slice also very dependent on groundwater. So the point here is groundwater is and always has been important in 00:04:50
Arizona. And moving forward, it's going to become increasingly important as our overall reliance on the resource increases. 00:04:57
Rural Arizona. 00:05:07
Why is groundwater important? It's typically often the only water source for rural communities. So if you're in rural Arizona, the 00:05:08
water that's coming out of your tap, especially, there's a very good chance that's groundwork. So this map, this comes from a 00:05:16
University of Arizona. The basins you see in green greater than 75% reliance on groundwater. The basins in blue are more dependent 00:05:23
on surface water. And typically, at least right now, that's Colorado. 00:05:31
So again, the point drinking water, groundwater, very important. 00:05:39
So what is groundwater? I think you all know this, but it's the water that's found in the spaces between soil, sand and rocks 00:05:43
underground to source for year round flow and many of our rivers and springs. 00:05:49
And um, it also provides that flow in between different precipitation events. 00:05:55
And again, this map is good for a couple of reasons because it's both accurate and it's not accurate. So that blue line that looks 00:06:01
like a lake underground, that's not what actually groundwater looks like. It looks more like the water, the blue that's occurring 00:06:06
in between the rocks and soil. So it's kind of all mixed in there, but that's a cross section of what groundwater looks like 00:06:11
underground. 00:06:17
Different types of aquifers throughout the state. This is important because depending on what the aquifer is, the characteristics 00:06:23
that can affect water availability, the quality of the water, and how easy or hard it is to get that warm. 00:06:30
So up on the northern part of the state, the turquoise, that giant turquoise BLOB that's the Colorado Plateau system of aquifers 00:06:38
up there, and then in southern and western Arizona, the green, those are basin until aquifers. 00:06:46
And so if we were to do a cross section of what these different aquifers look like in Northern Arizona on the Coconino Plateau, 00:06:54
these aquifers are very deep. This would be sort of like if you fill the bathtub with concrete and it hardened and it cracked. 00:07:01
That's sort of what the aquifers look like up there. So the town of Williams, for example, has one of the deepest. 00:07:07
Municipal wells in the country. It's about 4000 feet deep. 00:07:14
UH basically flippers, on the other hand, in southern Arizona and the western parts of the state. 00:07:18
Those would be like if he's still the bathtub up with sand and rocks and then filled it with water. So you have these giant basins 00:07:24
typically in alluvial areas that have filled up over time with water. They are different, different types of aquifers, but one 00:07:30
thing they do have in common here in Southwest is they typically recharge pretty slowly and then once the water is gone, it's 00:07:37
gone, especially in these basin fill aquifers. 00:07:43
Because you have this loose, loose collection of material. 00:07:50
Once you pump the water out, the material compacts, and that's why you see things like fissures or land subsidence like you've 00:07:54
heard about in southern Arizona. That's what's happening underground in those aquifers. 00:07:59
So you all in Heela County? 00:08:06
You're not really in either one of those. You're sort of in a transition zone from the basin fill going up to the Coconino 00:08:09
Plateau. 00:08:14
And um, I didn't have a lot of time to do research, but there's not actually a whole lot of information out there when it comes to 00:08:19
county wide groundwater conditions for supplies. I did find this map. You can see that the dots represent wells from years and 00:08:27
Department of Water Resources. Not a lot of information in HeLa County. I just circled it. But what is typical in HeLa County 00:08:34
water supply portfolio? 00:08:42
Highly highly groundwater dependent. So this pie chart out of the water use in the county. The green comes from groundwater, so 00:08:50
nearly 95% depending on groundwater. 00:08:55
So that's pretty typical for rural Arizona. 00:09:00
What is not typical? 00:09:04
In Health County compared to rural Arizona is water demands. So not surprising to you all, Nearly half water demands and HeLa 00:09:07
County come from mining. If this were like say in the Wilcox Basin or the Wall Pine Valley, most of those demands would be for 00:09:14
irrigation or livestock. So a little different demand portfolio here in Hilo cap the pie charts. These all come from Arizona 00:09:22
Department of Water Resources data. They were put together by University of Arizona. They are. 00:09:29
Going to have a fact sheet that's coming soon, just that outlays that outlines facts for Helen County water supplies. 00:09:37
All right. So that was a quick groundwater 101 summary. We're now going to get into how groundwater is managed in the state. 00:09:48
And for this, we have to start with the 1980 Groundwater Management Act. This set up two types of groundwater management that were 00:09:57
primarily designed for the urban areas around Phoenix and Tucson. 00:10:03
Active management areas and irrigation, not expansion areas. 00:10:09
Mayonnaise or irrigation expansion areas. These are pretty simple. It's just simply a hard freeze on irrigated acreage, just like 00:10:14
the title suggests. 00:10:18
Active management areas, not going to get into what all of these are. 00:10:23
In this presentation, but these are pretty rigid, very, very comprehensive groundwater management programs that are very state 00:10:28
driven. So they include conservation programs, recharge and recovery program, management plan goal and all of that is managed by 00:10:35
the Department of Water Resources. And again these were primarily set up for the Tucson and Phoenix areas. 00:10:43
Up until last year, there was 5 active management areas. 00:10:51
But UM, last year in November voters in the Douglas Basin approved states first new active management area in over 40 years, so 00:10:56
that we now have 6 Amas and three irrigation non expansion areas. The first new irrigation non expansion area was approved by the 00:11:03
state and the Walapai Valley Basin again end of last year. 00:11:10
So where does that leave the rest of Arizona? So the in this map, the lands you see in red, that's greater Arizona or in the water 00:11:19
community, we would say rural Arizona and these parts of the state, there is no underlying groundwater management. And So what 00:11:26
this means is anyone can come in to these red areas. 00:11:32
Drill a new well and pump as much as they want, even if that pumping drains neighbors well, negatively impacts the communities 00:11:39
water supply or even if it's pumping water that is connected to a river or stream and if that even if that water in the river and 00:11:46
stream is owned by someone else downstream. So this is a pretty unique system of non groundwater management. You've probably heard 00:11:52
it called different things in the media or in different conversations. 00:11:59
It's called Open Access because anyone can access the water free for all whoever drills the deepest well winds or 00:12:06
institutionalized depletion because the only path forward is depletion. 00:12:11
So I won't get into this, but there's we're seeing increasingly. 00:12:20
Different types of impacts showing up throughout the state because of this lack of groundwater management. So these can be 00:12:25
declining groundwater levels, impacts to existing wells. So if you bought like say for example, a retirement home in Wilcox, you 00:12:32
would reasonably expect there to be a water supply. People are finding out there actually isn't. So you're starting to see these 00:12:39
issues come up in the news, land subsidence, water quality risks, and then of course conflicts. 00:12:46
Uh, So what? 00:12:56
The impacts look like it's different in every part of the state, but in general what we are seeing is groundwater generally is 00:12:57
trending down in a number of different basins in rural Arizona. 00:13:03
This is the map showing UM. 00:13:10
Showing groundwater levels, changing groundwater levels over a 20 year period. The red dots mean they're going down, the blue dots 00:13:13
mean they're going up. Just one thing to point out is there are a couple of blue dots scattered throughout rural areas on it, but 00:13:21
there are a number of blue dots in the central part of the state. So what's happening there is groundwater levels have recovered 00:13:28
with the importation of CAP water. So you're having CAP water, Colorado River water offset groundwater pumping. 00:13:35
You're seeing the blue show up in like the Phoenix and Tucson areas, but then there's a lot less blue and rural areas on it, so. 00:13:43
Again, that's sort of like explains what's happening with the different colors, but then again, as Colorado River supplies are 00:13:50
decreasing. 00:13:54
You're going to see less blue overtime in the central part of the state. So just providing that statewide, statewide view. 00:13:58
Here are some examples of basins that have in the last 10 years experienced some significant water challenges. You can see index 00:14:06
wells, these are wells that are set up to just measure groundwater levels that are managed by DWR declines. So Wilcox average 00:14:13
annual change 28 feet going down. In La Paz County, the McMullen basin average change 10 feet going down while High Valley basin 00:14:20
where the new IA was designated average changed 6 feet going down. 00:14:27
Each year. 00:14:35
So these are maps our team put together that show. 00:14:37
New wells over time, so starting in 1980, going through 2020, so you have the larger yellow dots you can see, you can see start to 00:14:41
show up especially after 2010. So on the left, Wilcox Basin and Cochise County, Upper San Pedro's on the right. And again you can 00:14:49
just see the multiplication of wells over time. 00:14:57
Couple other basins. So Brady River Groundwater Basin. Same trend. 00:15:06
You can see the village of Oak Creek. That's where that's where my family moved to after my grandfather retired from the mining 00:15:13
industry in 1980. Not a lot going on in 1980, but Fast forward to the year 2000. Many more wells, especially larger wells. And on 00:15:19
the right is the wall of Five Valley Groundwater Basin up in Mojave County. 00:15:25
Same. 00:15:32
So it's easy. I mean, we could talk about groundwater data all day if we wanted to. 00:15:35
Trend lines numbers, But I think what's important to remember is that this is also a very humid issue. A lot of people in rural 00:15:41
Arizona are fully dependent on groundwater and they are facing real challenges. So our team went out, we interviewed A handful of 00:15:48
folks that's on our website and I want to share this one interview from a resident in the Wilcox Basin. 00:15:55
I think I might need some help pressing play on the video. 00:16:02
And there is sound to it. 00:16:11
And in France, Williams. 00:16:50
Arizona. 00:16:53
Down here to help my father, my mother. 00:16:57
Help myself. 00:17:02
Here. 00:17:05
Live out the rest of my life and. 00:17:09
Some comfort and some enjoyment. 00:17:12
I figure it's a desert. There's gotta be real strict part questions answer. 00:17:15
So I never even thought about it. 00:17:20
What happened then? I had to have my. 00:17:23
An impression on him. 00:17:26
And. 00:17:29
All the world is fine. 00:17:30
OK, don't think you got it. I'm turned on. I can hear it. Nothing coming out. Went next door to talk to my neighbor and another 00:17:33
neighbor. 00:17:37
There. 00:17:42
And got. 00:17:43
The initial shock the the area was dry. 00:17:45
Yeah, started digging. 00:17:48
It's me. 00:17:51
Yeah, we were using 5 gallon groups of water. 00:17:55
For four people, four adults. 00:17:58
We've built a thing to put the water in. 00:18:02
After heated up on the stove and connect the air hose to it, pressurize it to do dishes to take towers with. 00:18:05
That was the initial. 00:18:14
Struggle with that was how do you do sensor and some properly and take shower. I used the water in the hot tub to. 00:18:16
Flush the toilet. 00:18:26
It's actually used the bucket though. 00:18:28
And. 00:18:32
Right, this is ridiculous. 00:18:33
Why am I happy to live like this? You shouldn't be. 00:18:38
Nobody's taking responsibility for it. 00:18:44
Yeah. 00:18:46
That's ridiculous. There's. 00:18:47
Green. 00:18:51
I like to think that I'm not typical, but there's a lot of retired people here. There's. 00:18:52
Lot of articles people that. 00:18:58
Speakers working paper money on house and. 00:19:00
I mean, even before this went after, on the whole, within the years they were dropping. 00:19:05
OK, point Why are you guys thinking these people have problems? 00:19:12
I feel so because I can do it. 00:19:17
Being some. 00:19:21
Idea about water in my mind, I thought. 00:19:23
I just get the desert out of it. You don't regulate the honor in the desert. 00:19:27
I've come a week. 00:19:35
Yeah. 00:19:37
No. 00:19:39
And it just. 00:19:41
It's shocking. 00:19:43
I purchased my home. 00:19:47
You plan to be there? 00:19:49
And it gets taken from you. 00:19:51
What's the solution? 00:19:55
Being sustainable? 00:20:00
We should have one captain. 00:20:04
That's the worst part required. 00:20:08
List. 00:20:14
Are you like me, being taken? 00:20:16
I chose to join and serve. 00:20:22
Desert Storm head. 00:20:26
Handshakes or something? 00:20:29
Businesses back again. 00:20:31
Help the government. 00:20:34
You know. 00:20:37
Was. 00:20:39
Doing what it was supposed to here, looking out with people, that's that's not the government. Government supposed to be for the 00:20:40
people. 00:20:45
There is nothing that here, there's nobody's. 00:20:51
Nobody cares. That's really what I've got from it is nobody. 00:20:57
And the government that I found here. 00:21:02
The quarter story. 00:21:06
And then we can't get. 00:21:08
OK. So again, that was a really, really quick tour of various impacts throughout the state. But again, the point is we can look at 00:21:22
data all day, but when when this does touch home, it touches home in very real ways for people out there. So in response to these 00:21:28
challenges over the years, we've seen. 00:21:34
Rural communities throughout the state come forward to the state, especially the state legislature seeking solutions and that's 00:21:41
been increasing over time comma take a few minutes to walk you all through what that has looked like and what you'll see is this 00:21:48
has kind of started in different ways in different places. But over time rural communities have gotten connected to each other, 00:21:55
started talking to to each other about solutions and you're seeing more of that recently so to really. 00:22:02
Understand the story of how we got here and where the policy conversation is at. 00:22:09
Residents in Willcox came together. It was this was a very, very contentious process. The community was divided, but they came up 00:22:45
with what was called a groundwater conservation area proposal. They referred that to the legislature. It was essentially chopped 00:22:53
2015. Also the state received a petition from the San Simon Basin, also in southern Arizona for for the creation of a new 00:23:00
irrigation expansion area. Also that petition was shelved a year later. First petition for a new irrigation non expansion. 00:23:08
Yeah, in the world. High Valley Basin, also shelved by the state, 2017 Governor Ducey convened a stakeholder process. 00:23:16
The Governor's Water Solutions process. The governor's office proposed A handful of reforms related to rural groundwater. No 00:23:23
subsequent bills were introduced in 20/18/2017. There was a bill proposed to do a statewide study, which they rate of groundwater, 00:23:31
and that was also rejected. So you're starting to see these issues. 00:23:38
Come up at the state level and the policy level, but they don't go anywhere over this period of time. 00:23:46
And then you start to see some small steps taken. So 2018, the legislature funded DWR to study groundwater in the wall of High 00:23:52
Valley Basin. That was the only water bill passed that year. And then in 2019, this was the same year the drought contingency plan 00:24:00
also passed. The legislature also passed a bill to authorize groundwater study committees in Mojave and La Paz counties. And So 00:24:07
what the and what you'll see is starting in 2019, water skyrockets. 00:24:14
In the public consciousness. So you start to see water showing up as a top issue among voters, and I think a huge part of that was 00:24:22
both. 00:24:26
Was the drought contingency planning process, because that was a public dialogue, so that elevated Colorado River issues and then 00:24:30
going into 2019, in December, some of you probably remember the Arizona Republic published a. 00:24:38
Investigative study on groundwater pumping in rural Arizona, it got a lot of attention. A lot of the issues we're focused on 00:24:46
Cochise, Mojave and Lapaz counties. And so going into the 2020 session with water being an elevated issue, there were at least at 00:24:52
least I counted 60 plus water bills that were introduced in the state legislature very, very different from past years where there 00:24:59
was typically just a handful of water bills. 00:25:06
This was the first year we saw an introduction of a bill called the Rural Rural Management Areas. This was introduced by 00:25:13
Republican in Mojave County, Virginia Cobb. It was the first proposed introduced legislation that provided an alternative to new 00:25:20
active management areas or new irrigation on expansion areas. The intention was to have something more flexible, locally driven 00:25:28
and give communities more options versus AMA or do nothing that proposal. 00:25:35
Only received an informational hearing. It did not advance. Also in 2020, the Wallapai Valley area, the Mojave County, they 00:25:43
petitioned the second time for a new INA up there. So you're starting to see more and more things surface at the state level. 00:25:50
In these years and then we get to 2021 and that only continues so. 00:25:58
Representative Cobb introduced the Army bill again didn't go anywhere. The Mojave study committees that were set up to the 00:26:05
previous year by the legislature, they recommend reforms to pass program water by majority vote and then in this year because. 00:26:13
Again, the options. 00:26:21
New and AIA I think citizens start to get organized. The ballot measures and the Douglas and Wilcox Basin in Cochise County, led 00:26:23
by the Arizona Water Defenders. 00:26:29
Down there the same year, Yavapai County. 00:26:35
In response to water concerns from their constituents, goes to series of meetings to discuss the possibility of passing. 00:26:39
Mandatory adequacy. This is one of the few tools that is available to rural Arizona where we would require a new subdivision to 00:26:46
have 100 year water supply. Again, it's pretty narrow and ultimately you have a pie. Did not move forward with it, but again, just 00:26:52
response to hearing concerns about water from the constituencies. 00:26:58
So moving on to 2022, there is a this was a former governor's water council process under DC there was a non AMA committee or a 00:27:05
rural groundwater committee. Members from that group broke away because they were wanting to have discussion of new programs and 00:27:13
policy and we'll come back to that about what they did February. The RMA bill was attached on to one of representative Griffins 00:27:20
bills on the floor it passed with. 00:27:28
Pretty significant Democrat and Republican support, but the bill is ultimately withdrawn. And then in May of last year, Coconino, 00:27:36
La Paz, Mohave and Yavapai counties unanimously passed resolutions urging the legislature and the governor to pass laws to protect 00:27:43
rural groundwater. So you're seeing a lot of increase in activity, especially in 2022. And then what's happening? 00:27:51
Starting last year with different pastures as rural communities, whether they're in the Sansano, Wilcox, yeah, I, you know, 00:27:58
they're talking to each other, they're starting to get organized and how they engage on state policy. So a big reason why you're 00:28:05
seeing more activity at the state level with rural communities coming forward asking for more tools, more options. 00:28:11
So August, November of last year, that group that broke away in January, they took up the old rural management area concept. I was 00:28:18
a part of this group along with representatives from like Mojave, Coconino Yavapai. 00:28:25
And the residence in Wilcox had someone especially retooled that bill. And that's what came back this year called the local 00:28:34
groundwater stewardship area. Talk more about that later than November. 00:28:40
Last year the Douglas AMA that passed by local vote, so that's your state. That's the states first new active management area down 00:28:47
there. There was also a petition for the Wilcox AMA. That one failed. 00:28:53
December or Pine Valley designated. 00:29:00
So now let's get into this year. And now we're like. 00:29:03
Used to be able to fit on one slide things that happened on water over several years. Now we're talking only months because of 00:29:06
everything that's going on in the water. So January governors draft executive budget includes 5,000,000 for local water planning 00:29:12
including setting up new AMA's. 00:29:17
Skip over the Colorado River for now. But again, that's just another point that's out there on water that's elevating the issue 00:29:23
among voters and public. So January February local Groundwater Stewardship Area bill was introduced by Representative Biasucci, 00:29:30
Republican from Ohio County in the House and then Senator Borrelli, Republican front lobby county in the second so 2. 00:29:37
Mirror bills. 00:29:45
February. 00:29:46
Letter sent by a number of local leaders, local electives from rural Arizona urging passage of the bill and then March. There was 00:29:47
a three month process where different feedback on the bill was was incorporated into an amended version. 00:29:55
All right. And then even more things started happening in the last couple of months. So recent polling, we've been tracking water 00:30:03
among voters and what voters think about water for the last five or six years. 00:30:10
Um, What surprised us this year was water is now the top issue in the state. It's four points ahead of what's typically in the top 00:30:16
immigration, education, inflation. 00:30:22
Bahati, the four counties, again passed resolutions just in the last month urging passage of the bill. 00:30:29
Attorney General Mays sends a letter to DWR asking why they aren't doing periodic reviews of basics to see which ones qualify for 00:30:36
new Amas, and then she responded to drill cards in La Paz County. Same month, April 127th residents in the Wilcox Basin wrote a 00:30:44
letter to the governor and to give you are asking them to take executive action to designate the base of the new IA because they 00:30:51
need something again. Final state budget 5,000,000 for new and a. 00:30:59
And then this new water policy council that's being convened and there's a rural groundwater management committee that's tasked 00:31:06
with making. 00:31:11
Recommendations for legislation by design. 00:31:15
So. 00:31:18
That wraps up the storyline of how communities have been engaging on rural groundwater in recent years, and the main take away is. 00:31:19
It's been increasing and it's been a lot and that's going to continue overtime until rural communities are given more options and 00:31:29
tools that are a better fit to protect the water in ways that they see fit and according to their local bolts and so. 00:31:35
I'm gonna get into a little bit of. 00:31:44
The legislative proposal that was introduced and amended last year, it did not pass. It's not going to pass this year, but work is 00:31:46
going to continue on it. I expect it will be introduced again last year. So this was the local groundwater management stewardship 00:31:51
area proposal. 00:31:56
And I'll say from the beginning, I'm really, I'm not here promoting this. I'm just going to represent what the bill is, what it 00:32:02
what was worked on by dozens of communities throughout the state and then open. 00:32:07
An invitation for you all and anyone who's listening. If you'd like to get engaged in this conversation, regardless of your views, 00:32:14
certainly would encourage you to do so. Is this is only going to get. 00:32:18
Ramped up overtime, so the purpose of the bill few principles going into it, was 1. Expanded toolbox for Rural Communities. 00:32:23
With options to create locally tailored basin level solutions. This is pretty different from the active management areas and AMA 00:32:32
approach because once a new A&A is instituted. 00:32:37
Everything that comes with an AMA automatically applies. There's no local tailoring in AMA program. Opt in flexible approach, so 00:32:43
not only make. 00:32:48
The new program opt in, but also the different tools management actions make those selectable by local communities. 00:32:54
3rd principle, dedicated funding in an AMA and IMA. There is no dedicated funding. What was important for rural communities if is 00:33:03
if there's going to be a new better option that should come with funding to actually do conservation programs, to do incentives, 00:33:09
things like that. And that was another major focus, really focus on voluntary conservation programs and incentives that can be 00:33:15
customized in a local planning process at the basement level in rural Arizona in the last principle that went into the crafting of 00:33:21
the bill. 00:33:26
Is promote the shared stability of groundwater supplies because everybody uses the same supply. If you're in a basin, and if 00:33:33
you're in rural Arizona, that is typically the most often the only supply available. So create value and opportunities for all 00:33:38
users that depend on that supply. 00:33:44
Key differences with Amas and Ionas and mentioned some of these, so one stewardship area dedicated funding $50 million a year for 00:33:51
implementation. What's key here, no new taxes, no fees so. 00:33:57
The state did you are has only has authority for new fees within the AMA I a framework. Because we're not working in that 00:34:04
framework, no new fees would come with that. 00:34:09
So um. 00:34:15
50 million in the legislation. The way it's crafted is it's money that's over and above existing obligations in the lottery fund. 00:34:16
Another principle temporary. 00:34:22
Get a new AMA or new INA, it's there forever. One of one of the ideas that Ruler is gonna liked and this proposal was have it be a 00:34:27
10 year program and have there be a review by DWR that's driven by science and criteria so that the program if the if the criteria 00:34:34
are no longer if the criteria are being met, the reason for the designation there would be a pathway to rescind the program. So 00:34:41
this was important for a number of rural communities. 00:34:48
Balanced local control with state support, another principle in the bill. So again an A&A, if you imagine a spectrum of state 00:34:55
control, local control, the AMA is pretty much all the way over on state control. 00:35:02
What this proposal would do is it moves the ball more towards local communities, sets up a local council and the council would 00:35:09
have the authority to pick and choose from a pre authorized set of management actions. So like well spacing conservation program. 00:35:17
Incentive program, things like that. 00:35:26
Pick what they want. Put that in the management plan. DWR is responsible to implement it so there's more of a balance between 00:35:28
locals. Get to make the choice. 00:35:32
WR's technical expertise resources to implement flexible mention this mix and match tools to meet local needs if one particular 00:35:36
tool isn't needed. 00:35:41
Then locals shouldn't have to do that tool like they would in an AMA so precise. 00:35:47
The ability to do things at the basin or subbasin level depending on how this or where this is designated, it would enable that 00:35:52
versus doing things in like a county wide approach and then real economic development catalyst compared to an AIA with the 00:35:58
dedicated funding. 00:36:04
Conservation Program Incentive program. The idea would be to get those resources on the ground to support water users and 00:36:11
communities and provide value and jumpstart rural economic development. 00:36:17
So key difference is with. 00:36:24
What exists now as options for rulers on versus what could exist or what has been worked on? 00:36:26
By communities over the last few years and is continuing to be worked on. 00:36:32
So key features walk through the process really, really quick. So there would be a science based criteria driven designation 00:36:37
process. This could be initiated in three ways. 00:36:42
The three ways it could be initiated are pretty similar to the AMA and Iona approach, because the idea would be if we want to 00:36:48
provide a better, more flexible option for rural Arizona, let's not make it more difficult than doing the worst options for rural 00:36:56
Arizona. So can be initiated either by 10% of voters petitioning PWR. That's exactly what they can do now to get a new INA. 00:37:04
It can be initiated by the DVR director but either director can do that on his own right now for a new and as you know the idea 00:37:13
would be to give him another option or and here's what's new for counties in this program compared to a would be a county Board of 00:37:20
Supervisors could could petition to do the PR director to initiate one of these. 00:37:27
Following a petition, DWR would follow a public hearing process. Again, the criteria. 00:37:35
Are defined on the bill and they would make a determination. It would be an appealable agency action and if it proceeds, one of 00:37:40
these would be designated then if council would be set up. 00:37:45
This is something that changed. The council makeup changed in the introduced version of the bill versus the amended version of the 00:37:51
bill, the amended version of the bill that council appointment process reflects. It's sort of similar to what the legislature did 00:37:56
for with a. 00:38:02
Last year county Board of Supervisors we get to a .2 seats. 00:38:07
The legislature would get 4 governor, 3 expertise criteria and then six of the nine have to reside in the stewardship area. The 00:38:12
reason 3 don't have to would be scenarios where like if there's a ranch. 00:38:19
Might have significant operations within the basin, but the reaction might live outside. This is also also a consideration for 00:38:27
mining companies as well management plan contents. 00:38:32
The bill would then define a set of selectable options. 00:38:38
So like, well, Spacey conservation program, recharge and recovery program, it's in this program and then the council could choose 00:38:43
what to put into the management plan to set the goal. They don't have to choose. 00:38:50
Really anything. But they can. So the idea would be to give choice and choice to the local basins and then the plan then goes to 00:38:57
GWR for approval. 00:39:01
And implementation and tracking and then implementation of the plan. Dedicated funding. 00:39:06
To do that. 00:39:12
And and then every 10 years goes through the review process. So of course a lot more to be worked out or a lot more to be 00:39:13
discussed in details, but. 00:39:18
Don't need to do that today and I'm happy to sit down with anyone and meet about with the amended version of the bill. Actually do 00:39:23
have copies of the amended version on a USB. I'm happy to give that to the county along with the resolutions, the resolution that 00:39:30
was passed by Monday County. If you all want to see that, I have a copy of that as well. 00:39:37
So that's a quick summary of the bill. So where we are now to wrap this up quickly, to reiterate, the underlying framework for 00:39:46
groundwater management in rural Arizona is nothing. 00:39:52
You know, and when my family moved here in 1980, it's probably fine. Now there's one and a half million people here. We have a 00:39:58
number of growing areas and then of course with with the water challenges we face, a number of communities no longer see nothing 00:40:05
as viable option. Also what's want to point out here that roller is over the last place in the Colorado River basin, the entire 00:40:12
basin where it's still Open Access free for all groundwater pumping. 00:40:20
Water is the number one issue now with voters statewide, whether you're Republican, Democrat, independent, don't care. What we 00:40:27
increasingly see in our polling is it's just going up in terms of importance and what voters care about. 00:40:34
Colorado River because. 00:40:42
When we're looking at water statewide, it all intersects. We likely have about a two year window heading up into 2026 to prepare 00:40:44
for less Colorado River water deliveries. That's only going to have the effect of increasing reliance on groundwater throughout 00:40:50
the state. That matters because when companies look to relocate or look to invest in Arizona, they're looking at the entire water 00:40:56
supply portfolio. They want to know, does the state have everything in order before they make a substantial investment we're 00:41:02
starting to see more of. 00:41:08
More of those sorts of questions too. We went through this. 00:41:15
Extensively. But more and more rural leaders, communities are seeking to be empowered when it comes to making choices about their 00:41:20
water. Because ultimately, without water, there's no future in runners on it. And so it's really about the freedom to make choices 00:41:25
about future. And more communities are starting to. 00:41:31
Understand that and see that and as a result are getting engaged on these sorts of challenges. 00:41:37
And so I'll wrap up just by saying again, this is I really appreciate the invitation to come here, talk about water from a bigger 00:41:43
statewide perspective, especially what's happening out in greater in rural Arizona. And in return, I'll extend the invitation back 00:41:50
to you all and anyone who's listening regardless of your views on management or not. These are important issues and would 00:41:57
encourage you to track at a minimum. And if you'd like, join the conversation and happy to keep talking. 00:42:05
And. 00:42:13
Lastly, this is my e-mail and myself reach out anytime. 00:42:14
OK. Thank you, Chris. And so questions, Supervisor Humphrey comments, questions, not any questions. I'm I'm just happy to see that 00:42:20
there's a lot more bills coming in. 00:42:25
In front of the state to. 00:42:32
Try to make some better decisions for our future. 00:42:35
And I'd also like to see. 00:42:38
The counties have more say, so in what goes on with our water in rural Arizona rather than some of the larger cities making all 00:42:41
the decisions for us when it comes to voting so. 00:42:48
Yeah, it's it's difficult especially now with all the infrastructure and and rulers on this growing. Then the water needs are a 00:42:56
lot more people with private wells are worried that. 00:43:01
Development is gonna get a longer straw than they have and they're going to be without water, so. 00:43:08
It it's good to see. 00:43:15
Things are starting to shake. I just hope that it's not too little, too late. I hope there's still a. 00:43:17
Time to get a handle on a lot of these things and and and better use of our water. But thank you very much for the presentation. 00:43:24
You're welcome. 00:43:32
Supervisor Christians have big Chairman. Thank you, Chris for the presentation. I do have a few questions. 00:43:33
Comment first. I grew up in Douglas and so did my wife, and my sister-in-law lives in Elfrida. She just spent $22,000 drilling her 00:43:39
well deeper. 00:43:44
So we've seen a lot in the Sulphur Springs valley, just pecan orchards, just incredible the amount of stuff they're growing there 00:43:50
now versus when I grew up it was a few Peach orchards and stuff, but now there's big dairy farms and. 00:43:57
They are pumping a lot of water there, so maybe the AMA makes sense to them. We did have a discussion a while ago whether an AMA 00:44:04
worked in Heela County and we just thought it was too. 00:44:10
Yeah. 00:44:16
Restricting. It's not really what he accounting needs. 00:44:16
So it's intriguing to see this new concept here with the. 00:44:20
The local stewardship idea. 00:44:24
So when I look at a place like up in my district like Pine and Strawberry, which you mentioned actually in one of your slides, 00:44:27
there's targeted area that struggles with water supply. 00:44:32
There is no large users there, you know. There's no big giant orchards or agricultural or livestock. 00:44:38
Useless there. So I I wonder if a local stewardship area was developed there, what would it? What would be the advantage of it 00:44:45
when the water supply is just limited? 00:44:51
Because it's limited to start with. 00:44:57
Not being harvested by. 00:45:00
Industry. 00:45:04
Right, great question. And so one of the one of the underlying concepts of the stewardship area which certainly came from, you 00:45:06
know, a number of residents in the areas that don't necessarily. 00:45:12
Have large new users coming in but still face challenges is it's still important to create that environment where we can invest in 00:45:18
locals water security and so by creating a program that can have different tailorable options, a number of the tools may not be 00:45:26
needed. Like say for example a well spacing tool may not be needed in Pine Strawberry like it would be in Wilcox, but in that 00:45:34
case. 00:45:41
Then that tool wouldn't go into the management plan. You'd still want to have other things available like conservation program or 00:45:49
incentives program because that would then link to significant funding in order to support infrastructure, different projects and 00:45:57
recharge and recovery. And So what one of the things we saw last year when I actually forgot to mention the the new with the Water 00:46:04
Infrastructure Finance Authority bill that passed last year, is there significant money available? 00:46:12
Where that could be available to invest in rural community, water supply, infrastructure, conservation incentives and things like 00:46:20
that, the issue is in basins where there's no underlying protection. 00:46:26
The challenge is then. 00:46:33
Is that something the state can invest in while still being fiscally responsible and being responsive to taxpayer, to taxpayers? 00:46:35
So, like, say, if we spend money, public money, on recharge, but we can't ultimately protect that water, it could be sucked out or 00:46:42
it could not. It might not result in the public benefit it was intended. And so by creating some level of protection that fits 00:46:50
local communities, it opens the door for significant. 00:46:57
Public investment and so in the Pine Strawberry area having some basin or subbasin level program that could could provide that 00:47:05
planning framework with significantly open door to new resources that they don't currently have access to. OK. So that's that's 00:47:11
interesting. And so and I do like the permissive aspect of it driving an opt in, opt out, we do it, we don't do it whatever we 00:47:17
want so. 00:47:24
So when it comes to opting in or opting out, is that a region or those specific properties, Let's say a rancher doesn't want to be 00:47:33
involved in the program, but everything around him is, is that an opt in or opt out or is it just the at the county level it's opt 00:47:40
in or opt out. There's so there's in the way that the draft legislation or the concept is constructed now there's multiple levels 00:47:47
of the opt in or opt out. So the first opt in would be do we create. 00:47:54
Stewardship area or not? And then what basin or sub base? 00:48:02
So that's the first opt in question and one of the things that could. 00:48:06
Like this could apply to sub bases, so it doesn't need to be a huge area, it can be precise and targeted to where there are 00:48:12
challenges. 00:48:15
So once that's created, that's the first opt in choice and then what's unique about the stewardship area approach compared to what 00:48:19
we have now is the management plan itself is an opt in process, so. 00:48:26
To contrast with the Douglas AMA, right now DWR is setting the goal and then they're going to implement all the programs that come 00:48:33
with the AMA. 00:48:39
I think by 2027. 00:48:46
And there's not going to be any sort of like, well, we don't need this program. We do need that and we so you can't tailor the so 00:48:48
in the stewardship area, the bill defines a set of actions or tools that you can opt in. You can opt into all or none of those. 00:48:54
Essentially, there's no actual. 00:49:00
Requirement you must do these tools. The council has to decide what's the best fit, so it's very customized. 00:49:07
OK. And there's the people vote on this, the people of the county or does the Board of Supervisor just? 00:49:13
I'll vote on it. 00:49:19
So the Board of Supervisors would appoint 2 members to the council. 00:49:20
And then the council itself that would be the body that makes the choices of what goes into the management plan and then DWR would 00:49:25
implement the management plan. OK, alright. Thanks Chris. And that that's what changed I should mention to the introduced version. 00:49:33
And the amended version, there was a change in the role of the Board of Supervisors in the opt in process, in the designation 00:49:41
process, so in the. 00:49:45
Introduced version of the bill. There was 2 designation processes and wanted to give you R and then one at the county at the Board 00:49:49
of Supervisors level if the county wanted to do it themselves. 00:49:54
But the feedback we got from counties and from water stakeholders is that let's just simplify this, Make it 1 process that DWR 00:50:00
manages because they have the technical expertise and the resources to evaluate those sorts of things and instead allow the Board 00:50:06
of Supervisors to. 00:50:11
Petition DWR to initiate the process. So it's simplified that front end quite a bit compared to the introduced version. So I I 00:50:17
know we need to look at our water issues absolutely and it's very important topic that we need to discuss. 00:50:24
The But we're essentially asking the public to transition from the sort of an individual right when it comes to water to more of 00:50:32
a. 00:50:37
What I call, I guess a collective good Kind of. 00:50:42
Concept, and to some people that's a bit of a struggle to get to that point where you're you're OK, we have a shared. 00:50:45
Shell groundwater supply and now we all have to be governed by. 00:50:54
A group that's going to decide whether I'm overusing or not, and so that that's a struggle right there. 00:50:59
It is. And I'm. I'm from Arizona. I still live in Arizona. And I get that and I think, what? 00:51:05
And what I've increasingly seen in conversations with rural communities is. 00:51:12
The recognition that if I have a house and I have a well. 00:51:17
And suddenly my well goes were dry and there's nothing that can be done about it. That's now freedom. That's no longer. That's no 00:51:21
longer freedom. And we're increasingly seeing that mindset throughout the state. And so the the idea is what we can do is we can 00:51:28
work on crafting new ideas and new programs. That one it's really important to respect private property rights and not only can we 00:51:35
respect them through addressing groundwater challenges that we can actually enhance. 00:51:42
Private property rights because ultimately if our groundwater that we all use is stable, that benefits everyone's private property 00:51:49
that depends on that water. Otherwise that value of that property is just going to go down as the aquifer goes down. Instead of 00:51:55
trying to craft a program that can respect private property rights and that enables choice, choice and the ability to self 00:52:01
determine what tools Rizona wants to use. It's also really important And so I think incorporating those values that we care 00:52:07
deeply. 00:52:13
About into a new approach to something that a number of communities that worked on this proposal have intended or attempted to do. 00:52:19
Right. Good. Thanks, Chris. That's all I have. Appreciate it. 00:52:27
Chris, thank you. 00:52:31
Thank you for the presentation. I have real big issues with a lot of it. 00:52:34
So, um, water has been a an issue and a discussion since I was a very little kid. 00:52:38
You know, we live in a rural. 00:52:45
Desert type setting and so that's always been an issue. 00:52:47
As on Department of Water resources are in charge basically for regulating our groundwater. They're the ones that provide permits 00:52:51
like if I want to go drill well in my backyard, I pay them $100 and I apply for an application and and they they either give it to 00:52:57
them or they don't. 00:53:03
If you're over the 35 gallon a minute, then it's up to them. You know, that's when you're getting into the farming and irrigation 00:53:09
and stuff like that. 00:53:12
My biggest thing forever. 00:53:17
Is that private property rights are are very, very important to me. 00:53:19
The other thing that I see and you didn't talk much about it in this presentation is we never mentioned Maricopa County and now 00:53:26
county in these really large counties that are growing extremely fast. 00:53:31
They're not shutting down building swimming pools and they're still building golf courses and they're still building town lakes. 00:53:37
And they're doing all this at the expense that I feel like me personally. 00:53:44
At the expense of us rural people. 00:53:49
And so to me, quite honestly. 00:53:52
Until there's a discussion with expansion and growth and just how much is this desert going to hold? 00:53:55
I'll never be for any kind of legislative legislation. 00:54:02
On the on dictating how much water somebody will take out of their backyard, Well. 00:54:06
And so and and regardless of what they say and the direction it goes, if it comes to the legislatures. 00:54:13
There will be meters on our wells in our backyards that will. 00:54:20
Measure and and probably charge for the water that comes out of our wells. 00:54:25
I will never be for that. 00:54:32
Ever. And so my biggest thing is until there's that discussion on population and growth and where this state is gonna go with 00:54:34
that. 00:54:38
The rest of it's a non issue to me. 00:54:43
Hmm. 00:54:45
And so that's just where I'm at and I really do appreciate your your presentation. It's always good to hear ideas whether I agree 00:54:46
with them or not. So thank you for being here today, glad to be here. And I think hearing, hearing all the diversity and different 00:54:53
ideas, it's what's important and it's ultimately what's needed if we are going to craft better options for rural communities that 00:55:01
want better options and ultimately if there are some rural communities. 00:55:09
Don't don't need. 00:55:16
Any other tool then? 00:55:18
I think they're just fine. Um, in response to the state? 00:55:20
So with DWR, one of the one of the things with. 00:55:25
With the new program, would be the metering and measuring conversation would be rather than leaving that up to the state. One 00:55:31
option to consider would be. 00:55:36
Putting that. 00:55:42
Takes the choices and moves it to the local level. That gets communities, puts communities in the driver seat. So, So one thing I 00:56:13
don't want anybody to be confused is I don't disagree that there's an issue with water and state of Arizona, we have an issue. 00:56:19
We've had some really, really dry years. 00:56:26
You know a lot of lot of the focus has been on farmers or. 00:56:31
Producers, you know, and the amount of water that they take. 00:56:36
But when you look at that, Chris, those people have been cut back because of development. 00:56:39
We've lost so much in the way of farm ground in our valleys. 00:56:44
I don't know what the percentages are, I couldn't tell you, but it's way less than what we used to have. 00:56:48
And and and today. 00:56:54
They're getting cut back even more. 00:56:56
And so. 00:56:59
What's taking that place is homes. 00:57:00
And swimming pools. 00:57:03
And golf courses. 00:57:05
Now when it comes to the rural communities. 00:57:06
That's an interesting um. 00:57:09
Thought is because we have a lot of rural, rural communities. 00:57:12
They're not incorporated. There's no districts other than than us as a county. There's some water districts in some of them. 00:57:16
Where we have water districts. 00:57:23
That kind of regulate. 00:57:25
The water. 00:57:27
There's times when I sit there and I think, you know, water is going to get a little tight, sure. But we still have boards that 00:57:29
are giving us sort of certification certificates. 00:57:33
For 100 year water supply. 00:57:38
So that puts us in a corner where, yeah, but we're not the water experts. 00:57:41
These people are saying they can produce the waters so that there's another. 00:57:46
Development or another subdivision or whatever going in there. 00:57:50
That can happen. They can do that, you know, and we look at that. But really and truly my biggest thing is, is when it comes to 00:57:54
the rural communities. 00:57:58
We need to turn our focus around to those larger communities and we really need to focus on what they're taking out of our water 00:58:03
supplies. 00:58:07
It's not necessarily your rule rural areas so, right. Thank you and I agree it's a shared statewide. 00:58:11
Issue on water because once that cap canal starts to go. 00:58:18
Down or goes less, we're going to start to see some significant groundwater challenges in the central part of the state. So it's 00:58:23
it's really a whole a whole state perspective that I think is good. 00:58:28
I appreciate the comments. Supervisor. Thank you. Thank you for being here today. Thank you, Chris. I appreciate the invitation. 00:58:34
Yeah, you bet. 00:58:39
OK. Moving on to the next one, the information discussion regarding vacation rentals by owner and Health County and that's mine, 00:58:40
but I did solicit some help today. So we have met Michelle Nelson and in Payson we've had this discussion once already. 00:58:48
And and since then I've been to town hall meetings and other meetings where I continually hear the issues on on short term 00:58:55
rentals. So me and Michelle had a discussion. 00:59:01
There are some platforms out there that a lot of the short term rental folks go through. 00:59:08
And are part of and so I've been invited here her here today to to kind of talk about that. 00:59:13
And give us a chance to ask some questions. So Michelle, Are you ready? 00:59:19
Thank you so much. 00:59:24
Thank you for being here. 00:59:26
Yeah. 00:59:28
One resident, she's a retiree. She has a husband who had a stroke and she was using, had a little in their backyard, very 00:59:38
restricted on property and she was, you know, fixing up her house with that extra money she received. She just reported to me that 00:59:44
she's now going to have to go out of her home and leave her husband alone because she has to go find a part time job. So I'm glad 00:59:50
that you're giving me this. 00:59:56
Because we've seen a difference in my community. East Brady Park. 01:00:03
So I'm here today to tell you how. 01:00:06
Traffic and trash problems created by the short term rentals without any liability or cost. 01:00:10
How can I say this? Because it's happened in my community East Ferry Park and I do have this PowerPoint up. It is not relevant at 01:00:17
this time. I'm just going to talk to you about what kind of happened in my community first and. 01:00:24
One year ago. 01:00:31
I faced 40 community members basically with pitchforks and moltov cocktails, cocktails ready to burn my house down, and anyone 01:00:33
else who had a short term rental. They were so upset with the noise, traffic and trash. 01:00:39
But one year after giving my community members the information I'll give you today, we live in a mostly peaceful community. But 01:00:46
this is Heller County. Is anywhere really peaceful? 01:00:50
And Verla Dr. our VP of the Association that we have an association for East Prairie Park, She and I got together. We're both 01:00:55
short term rentals owners. 01:01:00
And we found out that the portals Airbnb and VRBO have strong, very strong ways of of filing complaints. And the reason we know 01:01:06
this is that it works, it worked with our neighbor by the way 98% we've got 98% of short term rentals we've found are either on 01:01:14
Airbnb or VRBO. 01:01:21
So last year's meeting? 01:01:35
And. 01:01:36
Thanksgiving for a bunch of stuff that I was going to say that I don't need to say. 01:01:38
So my owner and I live next to a short term rental that the owner is in Phoenix. He's more than an hour away. 01:01:41
And for some reason he always got big groups. Big allowed groups. 01:01:48
And me and my husband, we tolerated the music in our backyard, but if the noise went right into my neighbors yard and after last 01:01:55
year's Memorial Day annual meeting, armed with the information on the complaint, she went and filed a complaint. 01:02:01
The problem was solved within hours, but I'd like you to tell it in her own words. 01:02:09
We were once again troubled by loud drunken yelling and fighting last night by the short term guests, the northeast of us, so I 01:02:15
filed A complaint with the Airbnb and the host. 01:02:20
I'm not sure when these people were scheduled to look the part. 01:02:26
But I got multiple emails back last night and today from the host and Airbnb that they were looking into and then finally that the 01:02:29
guests would check out this morning. 01:02:34
I think the complaint process is fairly simple and effective. It is valuable to make complaints when necessary. 01:02:39
So that neighbors feel like they are empowered to take action. 01:02:46
And that hope to our negligence are put on notice. 01:02:50
We're being good neighbors. You have a hard time. So Michelle, if I could interrupt you for just a minute, we're having some 01:02:56
really bad background noise here on our end. 01:03:00
Now it's gone. 01:03:05
Can we do a test 2? 01:03:12
That's. 01:03:14
That's a lot better. You good, Sam? 01:03:15
OK. Would you please? 01:03:20
These. 01:03:31
With Airbnb and the host, I'm not sure when those people were scheduled to depart. 01:03:33
But I got multiple emails back last night and today from the host and Airbnb that they were looking into and then finally. 01:03:40
That the guests would check out this morning. 01:03:48
I think that the complaint process is fairly simple and effective. 01:03:51
It is valuable to make complaints when necessary so that neighbors feel like they are empowered to take action and that hosts who 01:03:55
are negligent are put on notice. 01:04:00
That also help hosts who are not who are being good neighbors not get a bad rap because of others. 01:04:05
My neighbor put together a presentation and others in the community used this presentation to file complaints. 01:04:13
They reported trash picked up immediately after complaining for months. 01:04:19
Complaints converted one house into a full time rental. 01:04:24
And the owner behind me. 01:04:28
No longer do guests play in that loud music or disturb my peace. 01:04:29
The county's ID IT department has the PowerPoint from a neighbor, but the graphics are old. 01:04:34
I've asked if the RT department to share a screen with us. Also, we can walk you through how easy it is to file a complaint with 01:04:41
online with Airbnb. But if the PowerPoint works better, we can work with that too. 01:04:46
I think we're good to go, aren't we, Joseph? Yeah, we're good to go, Michelle. 01:04:53
Yeah. 01:04:58
Great. 01:04:59
Is it? 01:05:04
Just do what my husband did and click. 01:05:07
8. 01:05:10
A link that doesn't have the logo. The official logo. It'll take you down a dark place. 01:05:11
So go to the next slide. 01:05:17
And So what you're going to do is go online and search for the Airbnb link. So click on the website and then you're going to go 01:05:21
search for the house you're looking for. And if we go to the next slide, I think it'll show us how we start looking like that. 01:05:28
OK so people, these are the websites, these are the the links. So when you search for a site. So this is the landing page when you 01:05:36
go to Airbnb. I'm not real comfortable with VRBO. 01:05:42
The complaint process is very similar. So in the if you'll notice what's going on here, you're going to be searching for an area, 01:05:48
She typed in Payson AZ and then on there it also asks for dates, but it says flexible and you can see that it's hard for me to 01:05:54
even see it, but it's on there. It says flexible, you can type that and then I picked week and I and then if you go to the next 01:05:59
slide. 01:06:05
Well, in this case she went to East Berry Park in particular and it shows all of the listings by by price. 01:06:14
So you can figure out from that, or you can figure out from just scrolling through which house looks like the one you want to file 01:06:24
a complaint about and if you go to the next slide, please. 01:06:28
You can verify that this is the home you're ready to complain about, and if you notice, she said you can copy the link from the 01:06:35
address bar up there. It's an important steps to take and if we'll go to the next one, she showed us how to share the link. 01:06:41
It's a different way to do it, more technology than I want to use, but it's possible. We go to the next slide, please. 01:06:49
This is at the bottom of the page. You can either contact the host directly through their listing, or you can scroll all the way 01:06:59
to the bottom of the page of the of the. 01:07:05
Property. So in this case this she's notifying the host, being a nice person and sending them directly a message if we go to the 01:07:12
next slide please. 01:07:16
You know the next This is like making a complaint. When you go to the bottom of the listing on Airbnb way way at the bottom it 01:07:23
says make a complaint regarding this property and you can click on that which you choose. Choose reported neighborhood concern. 01:07:29
You click on that, go to the next slide please. 01:07:34
This is where you. 01:07:43
It's a different looking page now. They don't have quite pretty graphics. It's even more simple. 01:07:45
It actually nowadays, it has two options. You can report an urgent concern or request a phone call back immediately or you can go 01:07:50
online and use that copied link. You have to file a complaint if we know the next slide please. 01:07:58
There's also a phone number up there for people who don't have online access. This is a this is starting the neighborhood support. 01:08:05
This is what my neighbor used. She used the online portal and got the emails back immediately. 01:08:12
That's where you need to put in the copy of the link of the address. So if you want to go to the next slide, please. 01:08:20
This is also making their complaint how you can do it, the options available it'll walk you through. 01:08:28
Next slide please. 01:08:33
The last one. 01:08:38
And this is more of how it looks. So it's basically filling it in, making sure you have the right place and then sending it off. 01:08:39
And is there one final slide? 01:08:43
I think that's it. 01:08:50
And then you wait. And as my neighbor said, they got back to her a lot faster than she. She was surprised. And Airbnb and VRBO 01:08:52
have been responding to this complaint quickly. 01:08:57
I'd like to say here's my suggestion. 01:09:03
I suggest you spend the next year and run an experiment. 01:09:06
Educate the community on the complaint process. 01:09:10
When you get a complaint, give them a handout on the process for the two big platforms. 01:09:13
Train your deputies on how to file a complaint when they get a call, or even get your dispatchers to tell people about the 01:09:18
complaint process and give out the phone number. 01:09:23
I'm betting this will quickly solve many of the problems with little cost to the county. 01:09:28
Remember, the platforms can shut down a problem rental overnight, and the rental owners are a lot more worried about losing their 01:09:34
listings than about a county code enforcement officer. 01:09:39
Access to the platform allows the business to exist. I have 1000 eyeballs looking at my place every month. 01:09:44
I can't replicate that market reach on my own, nor can I replicate the banking and scheduling functions of the platform. In short, 01:09:51
without the platform, I don't have a business. 01:09:56
More of the county can empower residents to solve the problem immediately. The department, the deputies or the dispatchers can be 01:10:02
on the spot. Heroes. 01:10:06
Using the platform complaint process also protects the county from liability as something supervisor clients raised At the last 01:10:12
meeting you discussed short term rentals. 01:10:16
The platforms also save county staff time and effort, keeping a registry contacting owners, paperwork and enforcement, and 01:10:22
protects them against liability, too. 01:10:27
Already in place in the regulation they've passed. 01:10:33
Has caused problems. 01:10:35
But I think that the county can do this. 01:10:38
And make it a lot less effort for everyone and get us all we can all be, you know, be better neighbors like we are in Eastern 01:10:43
Park. 01:10:46
Because wouldn't you rather empower neighbors and solve problems quickly and add more regulations, staff and burdens for the 01:10:51
hearing officers? 01:10:55
So try it for a year and see if it works. 01:10:59
And if it doesn't, you can always add costs, hire more staff and take on the responsibility of policing hundreds of short term 01:11:02
rental units yourself. So if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them. 01:11:07
Michelle, before I turn it over to to some more questions, there's one thing that me and you did discuss and that is. 01:11:13
That is the people that are not a part of those platforms. 01:11:20
That are not subscribed to Airbnb and VRBO. 01:11:23
And I've kind of watched a little bit more since I've spoken to you about that. There are quite a few of those. 01:11:27
So how? 01:11:35
In your mind, how would that work? 01:11:36
Well. 01:11:40
90% people are using these two platforms. 01:11:49
For their business because it's so easy I I have heard I I have two see we have about a we have 170 loss and E-40 park 140 of 01:11:53
homes on them. We have about 30 of those that are short term rentals that we know of. 01:12:00
Only two out of those 30 that are ones we know of that are off the platform. 01:12:07
That's only two out of 30 in our home. If you go online and you look at and I'm not sure if your staff has done this, looked at 01:12:13
how many rentals are on VRBO and Airbnb. I know the town of Payson did this and reported the same findings. I found that 98% of 01:12:21
these short term rentals are on, so 98% are on the platforms and so today. 01:12:28
Just today you could give out that phone number that I that my neighbor put on there to your deputies and to your dispatch. And I 01:12:36
promise you today that you could start solving this problem with 98% of your short term rentals and you won't solve all the 01:12:43
problems, but I do know that the neighbors that have a short term rental for hospital for the nurses they. 01:12:51
Often overwhelm their septic system, they have Gray water running onto the neighbors houses. 01:12:58
You, the county, already have laws regarding health and safety regarding septic tanks, so that is a very strong way. In fact, I 01:13:04
had a complaint early on in mine and I had to spend $20,000 to upgrade my septic, which I was happy to do because I'm a good 01:13:09
neighbor. 01:13:14
But. 01:13:19
You already have on the books this ability to control houses that are not on the platform through the septic. If they are over, if 01:13:21
they are over straining their septic system, that is a public health issue. 01:13:26
OK, Michelle, thank you. Thank you for all this. And I'm, I'm gonna open it up for questions. Supervisor Huntley questions or 01:13:35
comments? 01:13:38
No, I'm pretty much good at, you know, there's. 01:13:44
There's been a lot of complaints and on on some of them in my district and and I guess. 01:13:47
I will get that information to give my constituents a job. They'll call me for help and I'll say, well here's the number you can 01:13:55
help yourself. That's kind of doesn't go over too well either. But but it's worth a try. But yeah, and and but the regulations 01:14:02
from the, from the parking, from the overcrowded people and some of those issues. 01:14:09
Are are most of the complaints that that I get and I'm not against. 01:14:17
Short term rentals, I think they're good for people that travel. I think they're good for people passing through the state. 01:14:23
I'm even entertaining some of my property for people that are traveling with horses to have short-term place where they could 01:14:30
stay. And so I I'm not against them, but I think you know and and if and if the. 01:14:37
If some of these outfits with the platforms are. 01:14:45
You know, if they're starting to regulate their own people, well, well, great, because there has to be some regulation on these 01:14:50
because there's been so many complaints. 01:14:54
And so I I appreciate the the information. 01:14:59
Uh, that that you've given today it'll it'll be beneficial. 01:15:03
And as far as whether SO will use it or can use it, that would be up to the sheriff, not the Board of Supervisors. 01:15:09
But. 01:15:16
And that information will be good information that we can share with some of the communities. So thank you. 01:15:17
Supervisor Christensen, thank you. Thank you Michelle, for coming. 01:15:23
And good to see you the. 01:15:28
And we have spoken many times ourselves about. 01:15:30
This and I do believe that you could be. 01:15:33
Very much so. Put in the category of a good host, a good owner, a good business person with regard to it. 01:15:38
And so anytime we consider a regulation or an ordinance, anything like that, it's not because of the good ones, it's because of 01:15:47
the ones. 01:15:51
That are not so good and so the complaint process that you're describing is very powerful. 01:15:56
Umm. And very useful and I understand very effective and I have. 01:16:04
Pass that information on to the Sheriff's Department and. 01:16:09
I'm I'm hoping that they're utilizing that information because it cuts down on. 01:16:12
The amount of work that they need to do because when they show up to a house. 01:16:17
That has 10 people in it. You know, they don't know who they're gonna supposed to write a ticket to. 01:16:23
And so it's just uh becomes an issue. But if they can contact the owner now. 01:16:28
It's very helpful. 01:16:34
Now. 01:16:36
Now I know and I get the sense that you're against any additional regulation or ordinance from the county. 01:16:38
But as was mentioned, the few that are not part of this system the the verbo and everyone Gee. 01:16:47
Our system that would come in, I think the county, it would be wise for us to have a database of all those. 01:16:53
Who are operating especially in the north, we have hundreds and hundreds up there in the north of in year one of them that's in 01:17:01
the north there. And so we have hundreds and hundreds maybe we're aware, maybe we're not aware and so having that database or 01:17:07
having a permit system or having a license. 01:17:13
Makes a little bit of sense and so I do very much so appreciate your. 01:17:19
Your input in that as a as a counter alternative. 01:17:24
And um, with the idea that we try it for a little while and see. 01:17:28
We have not received back from. 01:17:33
Those that are developing this ordinance, we don't know the progress or I don't know the project I guess on that at the moment. So 01:17:37
I don't know where where I stand on that, so. 01:17:42
But I do thank you. Michelle, do you have any questions for me? 01:17:47
You really crack down on this. 01:18:06
They had that have been there way before short term rentals ever started and and I've heard from the patient police that they, you 01:18:09
know they often go to the same property over and over again because that property has parties even without short term rentals. 01:18:17
And so I paced and decided to split the two up. I don't know if you're considering that the licensing part of it and probably will 01:18:24
actually create a problem for me and the people in each City Park because we share a zip code with patients. 01:18:31
Although we do not receive any law enforcement, we're probably going to have to go discuss with Airbnb because I'm not paying two 01:18:38
licensing fees to the county and to the town when I don't receive any law enforcement from them. So there are consequences to 01:18:45
doing this that really make it a lot harder for the small business owner. And frankly with today's inflation and difficulty just 01:18:51
in running business, I would hope that you would also consider that we bring in millions of dollars in sales tax. 01:18:58
Short term rentals and you shut down this business, You've shut down a sales tax revenue. So just please be conscious and aware if 01:19:06
you want to control the noise, traffic and trash for short term rental by the constitution you must do it for all the community 01:19:11
so. 01:19:16
I'm wondering if that's what's happening with you guys for considering that or not. 01:19:21
Well, I know personally I have no intention in shutting down. 01:19:26
The the business, the resource. It's those that we receive neighbors that complain about something and don't feel that they have 01:19:30
any resource to take care of it. So we're we're looking at the best thing without being heavy-handed. In my opinion, we should not 01:19:38
be heavy-handed. We're not trying to eliminate. 01:19:45
Um, the whole concept. I I believe that it's great that we have them. 01:19:53
But they need to be good neighbors like you are. 01:19:58
So I agree. 01:20:01
Dictation. 01:20:12
A lot of other places and and we have, you know, it really has empowered our community and and brought peace to our community. And 01:20:15
honestly as a resident of Heela County that's why I love living here. I love community. 01:20:22
And I love having the peace and quiet and people who respect the nature and and listening to the birds and and so I feel happy as 01:20:29
a person who lives full time that I have this complaint process for my neighbors. And I'm I'm happy that it's turned things around 01:20:35
troubled houses that were houses are gone. So I I really hope that this information gets out to those people who are talking to 01:20:41
the residents who are complaining about specially like that couple of them whispering Pines. I could not believe what they've had 01:20:48
to put up with. 01:20:54
I hope that the county has gone to that little house next to them and shut them down because it is a public health hazard, how 01:21:00
many people they have going there and their septic. So I really would like to this summer see this complaint process spread far 01:21:06
and wide. I'm not if you guys have any ideas on how I can help to spread it far and wide and who I can talk to because ultimately 01:21:13
that's what I really want, peace and quiet and I want communities to get along. 01:21:19
Thank you, Michelle. 01:21:26
Michelle, thank you. Jessica, I have a question for you. 01:21:29
OK. So Michelle saying 98% of short term rentals are already a part of Airbnb or VRBO. So let's just say that that 2% is, is is 01:21:33
out on its own doing their own thing. 01:21:40
Any ideas or suggestions how a county? 01:21:48
Could or couldn't make them be a part of a Airbnb or VRBO? 01:21:51
I'm asking a way of getting everybody on a platform that would have, you know, so that we could utilize this complaint complaint 01:22:02
process more. I I know what Michelle Sandby statistics, but I honestly feel like there's a lot more than that that isn't on an 01:22:09
Airbnb or VRBO platform. 01:22:15
I don't. I don't know. That's why I was asking Jessica what, what the, what it would be, or if there's even an option for 01:22:33
something like that. 01:22:37
Check. 01:22:43
Good evening. 01:22:53
Look into specifically to see if the county would have the ability to, as part of the ordinance, require the short term rentals to 01:22:57
be a part of one of those platforms. 01:23:03
So that they could further the health, the safety, the nuisance, what have you and so we can certainly look into that and explore 01:23:08
it a little bit more. 01:23:12
Be interested in seeing what's out there and what would what could happen with that. Just to see, you know? 01:23:18
More information for us. 01:23:23
So. 01:23:26
Thank you. 01:23:34
I know that I don't believe the city of Tempe has had a registration as well, and they've reported real struggles keeping that 01:23:37
list up to date. 01:23:40
I know that personally here in Hill County, I'm working with a patient police fire. 01:23:45
Community Bridges and others, we're trying to create an emergency 988 number because the 988 number for mental health and crises 01:23:53
doesn't work here. 01:23:57
And because of the way they've scheduled it with area codes, the complicated and plus we don't have any resources. We do have 01:24:01
resources, but they're complicated. It's hard to get together And just making a list of all the resources that are available to 01:24:09
help is then a monumental task. So the registry is already on the platforms done most up-to-date contact information, They know 01:24:16
where that owner is. They can get to them in a minute. So I don't think that the county can ever replace that. 01:24:23
Just an FYI, I just don't think that's possible, no. But really my question was is how do we make the other ones use that you you 01:24:30
see what I'm saying? 01:24:34
I I'm wondering. I'm wondering. 01:24:39
You can. 01:24:47
If you would simplify your problem. 01:24:51
I I'm interested to see what you find out, Jessica. 01:24:56
So. 01:25:00
Yes, it does seem like complicated. 01:25:07
There's going to be any sort of case law out there, so I could. 01:25:10
Explore it a little bit more, but I think that that would be something that could work to require the short term rentals to be a 01:25:15
part of one of those platforms. That way there is a complaint based set up you know that would further. 01:25:22
The ordinance. 01:25:29
Of protecting the health and safety of the community. There's other. 01:25:31
Specifications that you can add in there. And so, yeah, absolutely. I'll get back to you Chairman, and I'll let you know what we 01:25:36
find. 01:25:40
Thank you, Jessica. And any other questions or comments you guys good. 01:25:44
I'm good. Thank you Michelle. Thank you so much for being here today. I appreciate your input. 01:25:49
Well, I really appreciate how you guys are handling this. 01:25:54
Which? 01:26:00
Thanks. 01:26:01
Thank you. 01:26:02
Okay Undersea Information Discussion regarding funds and support of the Patient Senior Citizen Center. 01:26:03
Steve. 01:26:10
Yes, thank you. So today we have two representatives from the Board of Directors of the patient Senior Center. 01:26:11
Do a lot of work in Northern Arizona. They're here to present. 01:26:17
What they do now and what their goals are for the future, we have Debbie Stevens and Chris Dock, if you would. 01:26:22
So. 01:26:33
Genium State their name and address again. Are you good, Sam? 01:26:35
There you go, First and last name please. 01:26:40
Hello, my name is Debbie Stephens. 01:26:42
And I'm with the patient Senior Center. 01:26:45
And thank you for the opportunity and the privilege to be before you. 01:26:48
Well, the presentation. Thank you. 01:26:51
Imagine losing the one person in your life that cares for you. 01:26:55
The one person that made sure you had food to eat and a place to stay. 01:26:59
That's what happened to Rose, one of our seniors in our community. 01:27:03
Rose's sister, who was also her full time caregiver, had sadly passed away. 01:27:06
For two whole weeks, Rose sat in her empty house, mourning the loss of her sister while facing the reality that she could not care 01:27:10
for herself on her own. 01:27:14
So when what little food in our house ran out, she made a desperate call to the Payson Senior Center. 01:27:18
Our director at that time answered the phone and heard roses, weak shape and voice say this. 01:27:24
Please help me, I'm starving to death. 01:27:29
Rose was immediately put on our Meals on Wheels program, and that program saved her life. 01:27:32
I know personally what it takes to care for an elderly as my husband and I became full time caregivers for his dad who was 01:27:36
diagnosed with Lewy bodies dementia. 01:27:41
Which is equivalent to having Parkinson's, schizophrenia and Alzheimer's all in one. And it was during that time of caring for 01:27:45
Papa Charley, loving on him, providing him with food and shelter and much family love as we could give him. 01:27:52
Then my heart really began to ache for the seniors and elderly in our community. So many of them are without family or friends, 01:27:59
and they're facing the challenges of aging alone. 01:28:03
And that's when my passion for our programs and our services really became apparent to me. It's critical that we exist in our 01:28:08
community. 01:28:12
We've been serving these communities since 1985. 01:28:18
Back in 1985 there was a population of around 7000 in our community. 01:28:22
We were founded by a group of women who realized there was a need in the community to help the homebound and the elderly and have 01:28:27
a place where seniors could come together and have resources and make friendships and have lunch together. 01:28:33
I was told that some of those founders even mortgaged their homes to purchase the property that we currently have on Main Street. 01:28:40
I have the utmost privilege of meeting one of those founders. Her name was Rosalind. We called her Rose. 01:28:47
My first day meeting her about seven years ago, when I started at the center, she was sitting in the dining hall with gloves on, 01:28:53
rolling silverware, getting ready for the lunch. She was in her late 90s and was still giving to the mission that she helped 01:28:57
found. 01:29:01
I felt very humbled and honored and privileged to be able to take her legacy and her torch and carry it on to hopefully have a 01:29:06
place where seniors for generations to come would have these resources. 01:29:11
Last fiscal year, we served over 7000 meals in our center. 01:29:19
Most of these people, this is the only meal of the day that they get. They count on us for their nutrition. 01:29:23
And for friendship and connections. 01:29:28
We also served over 38,000 meals on our Meals on Wheels program. 01:29:31
One of our homebound described this program as luxury. That really hit my heart hard for him to describe getting one meal a day as 01:29:36
luxury. 01:29:40
But when you're hungry and you would otherwise go without, that's exactly what it is to them. It's a luxury. 01:29:46
We also made over 3600 transportation trips to take, people to go grocery shopping, medical appointments. 01:29:52
And to the center, of course, for lunch. 01:29:58
I had taken the phone call and it was Bonnie. 01:30:01
Bonnie and her husband are in their late 80s. 01:30:03
Bonnie is legally blind and fortunately her husband, who usually does the driving and makes sure that they have food to eat, has 01:30:06
taken a serious fall that required surgery. 01:30:11
He was now laying in a wheelchair that was slanted due to his injuries. 01:30:16
She called the center, panicking because she didn't know how they were going to get groceries and they were almost out of food. 01:30:19
How she would get him to his medical appointment. 01:30:25
I was able to calm her down immediately and let her know that we had a vehicle that would be able to him stay in his wheelchair 01:30:27
and take him to his medical appointment and get her grocery shopping so they would have food to eat. 01:30:32
By the end of the conversation, she was crying and I was crying. 01:30:37
Because, she says, you've given me hope. 01:30:41
Hope that we're going to be OK, she says. We don't have any family and our friends have all passed away. We are completely alone. 01:30:43
I was able to call her and tell her you're not alone. Now you have a family, called the patient Senior Center. 01:30:50
Our tagline is embracing life together. 01:30:56
And that's exactly what we do. 01:30:58
We're not just a restaurant or a concierge service or have these programs. We actually invest into the lives of the people that we 01:31:00
serve. They're personally to me, they're all Papa Charlies out there that need some support and some family. 01:31:07
This is Michael. 01:31:16
Michael's the first person that we picked up on our transportation program and we bring him to the center where they'll hang out 01:31:17
until his lunchtime. 01:31:21
Every year we do surveys to make sure that we're meeting the needs of the current needs of our community and our seniors. Every 01:31:25
couple years, we do what we call an impact survey to see what it means to the people that we serve that have these programs. 01:31:31
And this is Michael's survey. His answers? 01:31:38
We asked 3 questions. 01:31:41
The first question we asked is what does coming to the center mean to you? 01:31:43
His very first answer to that on the first line is good nutritional lunches that are well balanced. 01:31:47
He goes on to say great fellowship. 01:31:54
Lots of hugs. 01:31:56
Great support by staff. 01:31:58
No more loneliness. 01:32:00
Clean bathrooms. 01:32:01
OK, people who really care, even when you forget. 01:32:03
We asked How would it impact you if the center ever closed? 01:32:08
He says it can't happen, period. With an explanation. Mark. 01:32:12
We said what would you like to say to our financial supporters? 01:32:16
He said, Thanks comma from the poor. 01:32:20
And then he quoted Psalms 99. 01:32:23
The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. 01:32:25
So on behalf of Michael. 01:32:31
And Rose and the thousands of seniors, our staff, our volunteers, our board, we want to just sincerely say thank you first and 01:32:32
foremost. 01:32:36
For your. 01:32:40
Faithful years of support to our program, our meal programs. 01:32:42
So many people have received that nutritious and delicious meal. So many people have received that once a day contact where they 01:32:46
otherwise would not have any connection with people because of your support. So I wanted to say thank you for that. Thank you for 01:32:52
seeing the importance of our mission and our services and our community. We thank you for that. 01:32:59
I want to share. I'm almost done and I'm going to have Chris, Dr. Board President, finish the presentation. But the last picture 01:33:05
is a picture of our lunch. We had over 60 people attending that lunch. 01:33:11
Um, we had to quickly tear down our exercise health and Wellness fitness time to accommodate the amount of people that were coming 01:33:17
in for lunch. 01:33:21
We have a medical equipment closet behind the screen, if you can see that. It's where we have walls, wheelchairs, walkers, canes. 01:33:26
Shower chairs, all that kind of stuff is just piled on top of each other because there's not enough space. 01:33:34
We have no proper lobby. 01:33:40
Right where those folks are sitting is where. 01:33:42
We have to also prepare our Meals on Wheels 160 meals get prepped in the mornings and we take over that space to load them all up 01:33:46
in hot boxes and coolers so we're not able to have morning programs. 01:33:52
We've simply outgrown our space. Although I'm so grateful to our founders for giving us that space as they did in 1985 when there 01:33:59
were 7000 people. It was it worked. 01:34:05
We did some numbers all the way back to the year 2000 and discovered that we've given over 700,000 meals just since the year 2000 01:34:11
out of this small center. 01:34:16
If you can look at it, you can see that it is formally a bowling alley, so it's long and narrow, and it has no windows, which can 01:34:21
kind of be depressing. 01:34:25
It also, before a bowling alley was a skating rink. And if you've been to the sensor, then you know that there's a built-in ramp 01:34:30
going into the dining hall. And if you're on roller skates and want that extra speed, that's a good thing. But when you're in a 01:34:36
wheelchair or a Walker, that's not a really good thing for our seniors. So we're looking forward to build a center that would be 01:34:42
specifically designed for seniors that will accommodate their special needs in a way that we can do. 01:34:49
Our #1 complaint with our center is that there's no parking. 01:34:55
We have only seven spaces out front and then we have just a few parking spaces beside our resale store, which is right next door. 01:35:00
So the majority of these people had to park two stores down and walk on uneven ground in walkers. 01:35:07
And a chance to get to their center. 01:35:14
We've had people tell us that they would come to the Senior Center, they would love to have lunch there, but every time they come 01:35:16
there's simply no space for them to park and so they've given up. 01:35:20
We know we're missing out on helping people that really need our support and our programs and our services simply because we don't 01:35:25
have the space to accommodate them. 01:35:29
We just simply have a grown our space and that's why we're here today. Before I pass it on to Chris, I just wanted to share a 01:35:35
couple more facts. In our community, 56% of patient and Star Valley's population are over the age of 60. 01:35:42
87%, so almost 90% of our program participants are in the low income bracket. 01:35:50
We've had people tell us that they had to make a decision whether to keep the utilities on or to eat. 01:35:56
85% of our program participants are over the age of 65. 01:36:02
And 67% of our program participants are disabled. 01:36:07
We serve over 300 seniors every day. 01:36:11
On average, you make over 350 rides, 3270 meals to the homebound, and 600 meals inside our center every single month. 01:36:14
We believe that we can do so much more with the larger center. So many more seniors in our community are in need, but we're unable 01:36:25
to meet that need because of the limited space that we have now. 01:36:30
Again, thank you for your time, for your attentiveness to me, and I'm going to pass this on to Christoph, our Board President. 01:36:36
Thank you, Chris. Just state your name. Yes, my name is Chris Doc. I'm the current President of the Board of the Patient Senior 01:36:45
Center. So thank you for your time. Thank you for inviting us here. As Debbie said, we're doing the best we can with our current 01:36:49
facility. 01:36:53
Our community continues to grow with seniors. The number of seniors in our community grows, the need for our services grows, and 01:36:58
our current building is just not. 01:37:03
We can't grow in our current building. We're basically to the Max right now. 01:37:07
Uh, just a quick story on how I became involved in the Patient Senior Center, a former client of our firm. 01:37:11
Had left a donation in her estate to the Senior Center. 01:37:17
That was my first interaction with them and what their services were. 01:37:21
My experience with other senior centers in my past were more of the activity type centers, which is fantastic. The social 01:37:25
socialization and the activities are very important. 01:37:29
But the nutrition services, Meals on Wheels on site meals, the transportation services, how they serve, low income, disabled 01:37:35
etcetera in our community really touched my heart and that's when I joined the Board four years ago, initially as Treasurer and 01:37:40
now as President. 01:37:45
The picture you're seeing is our lot And so before I came on board to the board. 01:37:51
The money from our former client was used to purchase this lot next to City Hall in Payson. 01:37:56
It's a little under 2 acres. 01:38:02
You can see it was pretty overgrown when we when we bought it. 01:38:04
We've cleared it out quite a bit. Firewise, did we want to be good stewards, good neighbors? 01:38:08
And our vision is to turn that lots into something that looks like this. 01:38:12
So this is a design that we've worked with an architect on, and it's based on feedback from our members. 01:38:17
From our employees, our volunteers and other senior centers that we've toured and and and talked with of if you were going to 01:38:23
build a Senior Center from the ground up, what would it look like? How would the spaces be organized and designed? 01:38:29
For efficiency, for safety, for maximum purpose of what we do. 01:38:36
In the last three or four years, we've downsized footprint of this as in the post COVID world and we all know construction costs 01:38:42
have gone up. 01:38:45
We've really put a fine tuning on what exactly do we need and so we've actually reduced it from a 15,000 square footprint 01:38:49
footprint down to a little over 10,000. 01:38:54
Our current facility is about 7000 square feet, but it's not organized very well. So this would be a building that would serve our 01:38:59
purpose for the next 50 years. 01:39:04
So what would the impact of that new building be immediately it would allow us to increase the number of on site meals that we can 01:39:11
offer by 50%. 01:39:15
As Debbie mentioned, we are. 01:39:20
We're bound with the number of people that we can serve at any given time and our current dining hall, as well as the constraints 01:39:22
of our kitchen. 01:39:24
We could increase activity offerings by 75%. 01:39:28
Meals on Wheels and Senior Express Efficiency and primarily Meals on Wheels would become much more efficient. We're estimating a 01:39:32
25% improvement in just. 01:39:35
How well we can get? 01:39:40
Food made packaged, delivered out the door. Right now the food is essentially started in the kitchen. It's brought out to the main 01:39:41
dining room where there's a bit of an assembly line as these things are put into the. 01:39:47
Distribution containers, and then they're manually walked through the center to the. 01:39:53
Distribution trucks that are outside. 01:39:57
Our new design would basically have our kitchen, our prep area and our loading dock all. 01:39:59
Designed properly so that we could manage this process much more efficiently. 01:40:04
As Debbie mentioned, we just don't have enough parking. 01:40:10
Our parking lots, we've done the best we can to maintain it, but we're limited on size. We're. 01:40:14
Bounds as far as whether we can go to the right or the left. 01:40:19
Uh, we can't expand our building or our parking lot and we want to do this in a safe manner as well. So the new building would 01:40:22
allow abundant parking and it would be designed for maximum safety with the proper handicap accessible ramps and all of those 01:40:28
types of things. And again inside the building to improve the safety for the seniors that visit. 01:40:34
Again, this is a repurposed. 01:40:41
Skating rink and bowling alley and those types of things. So we're very diligent about safety. 01:40:43
And making sure that everything is as good as it can be. But again, we're talking about starting from the ground up with the 01:40:47
building that's specifically designed for our seniors and our programs. 01:40:51
So this is an example of our. 01:40:58
Throughout what we've done so far, we didn't want to come to you with this as a concept. We wanted to kind of hit the ground 01:41:01
running, make a lot of progress first on our own, and then explain to you. 01:41:06
How much we've accomplished this far, So the first item was the land purchase that was $440,000 that was purchased in 2018. Again 01:41:11
that was has been completed 100% funded. There's no debt on that. 01:41:17
The design and engineering working with the architect and engineering evaluations. 01:41:23
That was $75,000. Again, those processes have been completed, 100% funded and no debt on that. 01:41:28
We reached out to a construction firm. Getting the pricing is a little bit difficult these days because pricing changes so 01:41:35
quickly. 01:41:38
But we said, OK, we were going to start this building process right now. What would that cost us? 01:41:43
Basically the building itself would be about $3.75 million. 01:41:48
About 2.8 million of that is for the nutrition service areas, 950,000 for remaining areas we have. 01:41:53
Activity centers, Arts and crafts. 01:42:00
Workout facility and those types of things. Administrative offices. 01:42:03
Of that 3.75 million, we've raised a little over 2.25 million of that. Again, those are individual donations that we've received 01:42:06
and accumulated over time. 01:42:11
And where that leaves 1.49 million to complete the construction cost. 01:42:16
Uh, for the interior build out. 01:42:22
We have about a $500,000 estimate on that. A little over half of that is from the nutrition service areas. 01:42:25
Uh, the remaining areas are again, it's about 5050 in those areas. 01:42:31
And for that, we have secured access to a $500,000 loan through Arizona Community Foundation. 01:42:36
And that's at a fixed rate of 4% and even as interest rates continue to go up they've. 01:42:41
Guaranteed us a 4% rate on that if we need to access those funds, so. 01:42:47
The total cost of everything from start to finish is 4.765. 01:42:51
Million and we've got 3.275 million that we've funded or secured. So we're about 69% funded at this point. 01:42:56
And So what we're looking for is how do we get the $1.49 million and what's the timing of that and what would that allow us to do 01:43:06
if we were to receive $1.49 million in a lump sum, We're essentially ready to hit the ground running to to send out the RFP, get 01:43:13
construction bids, choose a contractor and and get started basically this fall or early next winter. 01:43:20
If we receive that in two years of half of it this year and half of it next year, we could still begin this fall or winter, 01:43:28
because by the time we receive the second-half. 01:43:33
We'll be able to do a pay as we go. 01:43:38
And then the third option is, if we divided that into three years with basically 500,000 this year, $500,000 next year and the 01:43:40
remainder in 2025, we would basically be able to begin construction. 01:43:46
Next year, UH, with those. 01:43:53
Because of the $500,000 wouldn't quite get us to the point where we could actually start digging and and. 01:43:56
Be able to hit the milestone payments on the construction cost. 01:44:02
And that's essentially what we came here to to talk to you about again. 01:44:08
We wanted to be as self-sufficient as we could. 01:44:12
We've done our diligence on trying to raise money. 01:44:17
Without debt, one thing we don't want to do is for the remaining $1.5 million, take a $1.5 million loan. That then burdens the 01:44:21
operations where we can build this building, but then our center can't. 01:44:26
Operate in a fiscally manageable position so we operate every year on a pretty tight budget. 01:44:31
Umm. 01:44:37
We watch every penny. We don't have a lot of overage on what we do, so we want to make sure that we're not putting in $100,000 a 01:44:39
year debts for the future. 01:44:43
To support this building, so. 01:44:48
Again, that's our presentation. We're obviously open for questions and comments. 01:44:50
And then you want to join me so you guys? 01:44:57
There'll be thank you both and Supervisor Humphrey questions, comments. I'm gonna turn it over to Supervisor Christensen being the 01:45:00
physicist, so. 01:45:05
Welcome. Thank you. Yeah, there's a couple things that I think I need to add to your comments. Thanks so much for doing this. 01:45:10
So the the patient Senior Center is a regional support for the region, not just pace in itself, it's been there a long time. 01:45:18
So you you own free and clear the property on Main Street which you intend on keeping to use for other activities, hopefully and 01:45:27
always have the option of selling it OK. 01:45:32
You're trying not to spend any money. That's part of the natural. 01:45:41
Yearly income that the Senior Center produces that self supports itself. You're asking or wanting additional income to complete 01:45:46
this project. You own free and clear the new location. You also are basically 70% funded toward that. The only shortfall you have 01:45:56
is 1.4 million. OK, so as long as we understand that you are very solidly financially in the black. 01:46:06
When it comes to doing that, so you came to me. 01:46:16
Said, is there anything that we can do? Because by completing this project as you stated, you're going to be able to increase. 01:46:20
Your footprint in the community. 01:46:28
By large percentages of thousands of extra meals. 01:46:31
To. 01:46:37
An Asian community, if you would. The area is, is aging and so a tremendous benefit and I and I love all of that. It's all good 01:46:38
and so my discussions with. 01:46:44
Our county manager and others said that. 01:46:51
We would be able to, we meaning the county could support. 01:46:54
Funding say things that were directly related to your meal program for seniors. Am I right about that, Michael? As far as we 01:47:01
could? 01:47:06
Help you with your kitchen. 01:47:12
Per se. 01:47:15
Supervisor Christensen, I'm going to defer to our County Attorney on that, OK? I know it's in state statute and she's more 01:47:17
familiar with that than I am, so. 01:47:21
I think she left. 01:47:26
Yeah. 01:47:29
OK, Jessica, the question is that if the Board of Supervisors wish to assist the Pace and Senior Center, I've been told that the 01:47:32
best and clearest path toward that would be to assist. 01:47:39
In funding their kitchen facilities in the new building. 01:47:47
No, the what Mr. Manlove told me was that. 01:48:03
The county resources can be spent on senior. 01:48:08
Nutrition. 01:48:14
Yes. 01:48:18
Yes, right now we do support the Paces Senior Center for their nutrition program currently. 01:48:46
And what they're asking is whether we can. 01:48:53
Help support. 01:48:56
Additional nutritional needs by by helping them build their kitchen. 01:48:57
Yeah. 01:49:08
So yeah. 01:49:33
OK. 01:49:45
Well, thank you, Jessica. So do you have anything to add to what would be involved in your request for the kitchen? 01:49:47
Yes. So we do have um. 01:49:55
Kind of looking at the breakdown of what aspects of the new building are based on nutrition services and and and those types of 01:49:58
things. So we basically have the the kitchen. What we did is we took our overall footprint and the estimate that we got on a per 01:50:03
square foot construction cost. 01:50:09
Or the workout facility, the arts and crafts room, all those types of things. 01:50:46
And so for that we were looking at. 01:50:50
The basic per square foot cost of that is about 2.8 million. 01:50:53
Total and then the build out of everything is about 250,000. So of the 4.25 million of the entire construction and build out, just 01:50:56
over 3,000,000 of that is related to nutrition services both on site meals in the kitchen and then the preparation and delivery 01:51:02
for Meals on Wheels. 01:51:08
OK. Thank you. And so my question to you would be that if the board decided to assist in any way, where would that money come 01:51:14
from? 01:51:18
Supervisor Christensen, I would have to defer back to County Manager James Member on that since we're talking a large number. 01:51:25
So, well, we can't be talking a large number. Yeah. So I'll, I'll, I can get with him and and get back with you on that Sir. OK. 01:51:33
Thank you. Alright, that's all I have. 01:51:37
So seniors are near and dear to our hearts. 01:51:45
And and we started that back when me and Tim stepped into office. 01:51:48
All the senior centers were hurting for money back then. 01:51:53
One of the things that I didn't understand then and I don't understand today. 01:51:57
Is the cities and towns that these centers are in. 01:52:02
What are they doing to help support? 01:52:07
So we had a good year. This year. We do receive funding from Star Valley. The Town of Star Valley Council agreed to double their 01:52:10
support this year due to the prices of food and fuel going up. They realized that and they doubled their support this year. We 01:52:16
just recently, last week went to the Town of Payson and asked for an increase in funding as well for the next fiscal year which 01:52:22
starts July 1st. 01:52:27
And they increased it by 50%. And so they are helping us as well, just so you know, being a nonprofit is what we are. And so we 01:52:34
hold the responsibility of funding those programs. 01:52:39
Heeler County, Town of Star Valley, town of Peace and area on aging and even some trickle down eight out funds for transportation. 01:52:46
Our next fiscal year we're looking at all of those coming at 37% of our budget, 63% of our operation budget comes from the hard 01:52:53
work that we do with like Chris said, donations, fundraising, writing foundation grants and our resale store. So we're very 01:53:01
proactive in funding and that that's that's how we're supported and that's why as Chris said, we came to you. 01:53:08
To make sure that our citizens in those communities have a place to go that they can depend on and be like family. We did visit 01:53:46
recently Globe in Miami and Apache Junction senior centers. We made a great connections with them, spoke to Tammy from Globe. We 01:53:52
even offered to help them. We're very strong in the fact that we have great volunteer instructors for health and Wellness classes 01:53:58
where Tammys lacking in that support area. So we're going to see if we can set up zoom and do joint exercise classes together. We 01:54:04
want to be. 01:54:10
We're not just limited to our region, we want to be. 01:54:17
Example and A and a resource for seniors everywhere. Who knows how big we can go. We're excited just to have that ability to to be 01:54:20
a service for seniors even via Zoom. If anything came out of Glow or the COVID, it was zoom. And we know now that we can reach so 01:54:26
many people. We have seniors in Tucson that were exercising with us for the first time and so we see ourselves much larger than 01:54:32
the patient area. 01:54:39
So don't mistake what I say, because if I could wave my wand, the seniors would have all the money they need. I know. OK, so I 01:54:45
don't want anybody to get mixed up and say, well, what the heck is this, You know, support seniors. I do 100%. 01:54:52
It's just money is tight, things are hard and when you're when you're projecting numbers like an increase in 50%, unfortunately 01:54:59
seniors pass on. 01:55:04
So numbers in the future. 01:55:10
Might be more than 50%, might be less. It's hard to say, you know, but everywhere we have in Heela County when it comes to senior 01:55:12
centers. 01:55:17
We have issues. Those people are working their tails off, as you well know, to support this, the Meals on Wheels program, all of 01:55:22
that is so important. 01:55:27
You know, and and you're right, it's for the folks that are stuck at home, they get to see somebody every other day or whatever it 01:55:32
is. So it means a lot to them. It means a lot to us. I feel like Cusick County because we don't shortchange that as much as we 01:55:40
can. You know, we try and work and keep it all going. So on request and this is a big ask. This is a real big ask. 01:55:48
Personally, it'd be nice if we. 01:55:57
In my opinion, if there was maybe other partner steps stepping up to the plate too. 01:55:59
Like the town of Payson. The one thing I would ask you guys and and then maybe you thought of this, if you keep the old building 01:56:05
up and you've got this new one sitting there. 01:56:09
Why would you do that? 01:56:14
So if I can answer that because I'm in charge of funding and we anticipate major growth in this new building. And with that major 01:56:16
growth is going to come a much larger budget of expenses to feed more people and to be there. And as you said, money is tight and 01:56:23
only 37% of our grouped funding from outside agencies is what our budget is made out of. So our resale store is one of our major 01:56:31
funders and so to be able to build off of that and use that space. 01:56:38
As more of a funding opportunity to offset our operational expenses that we anticipate are going to go up, we have to be smart 01:56:45
about it. It wouldn't be. 01:56:50
You know, fiduciary to get into a wonderful new center and then say we can only serve this amount of people the same that we were 01:56:54
serving in there. We we understand it's going to cost more. So how are we going to in advance be prepared for that And that's one 01:57:00
of the discussions. So your old building would basically be used for expanding your resale store. Is that what you're saying? I 01:57:07
mean, there's so much potential you're talking about on the way up. So many people have ideas that could be for renting. 01:57:13
Become short rental. Just kidding, you know, go for it too. Too soon, huh? But you know, there's lots of, there's lots of 01:57:20
potential for that. Our resale store is connected to the wall of our center, so if we were to sell, we had a realtor come in and 01:57:26
say would make best sense if you sold everything. So then we would be losing that income that's coming from a resale store, which 01:57:33
is also a paid for property. 01:57:39
We're also looking at while the new building is being constructed. 01:58:17
We have to still continue in our current building. So we've got that thing at some point. We have two. 01:58:20
At the same time, uh, we can't sell our unless we were to sell our current property and then rent it back and those types of 01:58:25
things. But there's a whole lot of variables in that as well. So yeah, I think it's neat you guys already own the property and own 01:58:29
it outright, so. 01:58:33
Supervisor Humphrey questions or comments? Yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll pick up the tail end of this this time. 01:58:38
I appreciate you, your passion and compassion for what you're doing. I mean, you can see it and and I appreciate it very much. 01:58:46
And and and I I see it throughout the county. 01:58:53
And you know we've got paid in Winkelman, we've got people out of Tunnel Basin, we've got Globe, we have Miami with their senior 01:58:58
citizen and. 01:59:02
And it's like Christmas time and everybody's wanting the special Christmas present and it's like. 01:59:07
Well, OK, but I got five or six to buy Christmas presents. Four and. And so it's not that I don't support the seniors. 01:59:14
Because like supervisor plans start. When we started, there was really no organization to anything and so we just dug through 01:59:23
records to see what we were ending up giving to each. 01:59:29
As as we went because it would be a little bit here, six months later they'd need a little bit And so it was kind of an as needed. 01:59:35
So it's like well, they shouldn't have to come to us every month for funding because they're doing without. So let's just kind of. 01:59:42
Look at the big picture and try to go that way. And so we did, and it's kind of divided up. 01:59:50
And so, you know, I'm, I mean, I can appreciate what what you're wanting to do. 01:59:55
And I guess one of my questions would be, is there other partners looking at perhaps maybe helping you with this million five that 02:00:01
you that you need? 02:00:08
And uh, you know, so so that would. 02:00:15
Help us. 02:00:18
Or or help me decide. 02:00:20
Umm. 02:00:22
You know where where we stood, whether it was the full amount or partial amount. 02:00:23
Or things of that nature because when I talked to county manager or finance. 02:00:28
It's going to be OK if we're able to do this. 02:00:35
And what are we going to be able to do for Miami? What what are we going to be able to do for Globe and and and to me, there's no 02:00:38
North and South. I'm not going there. But it's like everybody has seniors that are are and very much needed. 02:00:47
And and it seems for some reason that our our States and federal government in, in my opinion. 02:00:56
And kicking in as much as they should and and cause a lot of that weight comes back to the county and and that's why we you know 02:01:02
we try to come up with yearly money to help disperse but. 02:01:08
I think it's a great project, but like I say, when, when I go forward with staff, it's going to be OK if we've got a pot of money. 02:01:16
How far will that part of money go? 02:01:24
For that for for that particular purpose, which is why we wanted to make sure that we did our due diligence first. And before 02:01:27
coming to you, you know this wasn't just the easy way out for us to go to the Heela County supervisors touch their hearts because 02:01:33
there's you know you guys care. But it was let's do what we can do on our own as far as we can go. Let's push hard And that's what 02:01:39
we've done and that's where we're at. So if you showed the big number and then show them what we're asking. And then my other I 02:01:45
thought and I'm not sure. 02:01:51
The details of this, but if you go and you start to ask about how where the funding can come from, I'm not sure if you all will 02:01:58
have a better opportunity in recruiting ARPA funds. 02:02:02
You know not know if those could be applied for the center, but we're asking if you know thinking outside the box and unique ways 02:02:07
that we can partner to get this accomplished with you know of course we'll be happy to do our part in that so. 02:02:13
Ohh man. 02:02:21
So if if we have an opportunity, maybe staff can look into it and. 02:02:22
See if there's some more funds out there that the county could acquire from different. 02:02:27
Areas Michael. 02:02:31
For for something like this. 02:02:33
Supervisor So what exactly you're really good at and finding money because I've seen that Let's work your matching your center. 02:02:38
They're going to be looking for grants for this. So that is one thing I wanted to ask you guys too. Have you been in touch with 02:02:43
the USDA on grant money? 02:02:49
Of any. 02:02:55
Well, I actually started with. 02:02:57
The senator and they're the ones that we find to you. I went straight to the top, I mean, not to the top top, but like maybe I 02:02:59
should have started at the very top, but and and they're the ones that said to go to the Super county supervisors for support on 02:03:04
this project. 02:03:09
And so that's kind of how the path led back to, you know, to you all. 02:03:15
So Michael, you think you're from a county perspective, we could look around and see what other monies are out there that may be 02:03:21
available to cut this million five down a little bit. I would have to discuss this with the County Attorney. 02:03:27
Since that would might be providing services for an organization might come in conflict with the gift clause or something like 02:03:34
that, I would say something. But she's still got her phone on, huh Right. So I would have to double check with the County Attorney 02:03:40
and then sit down with the county manager and maybe do another work session. One thing for you guys though would really be worth 02:03:46
your fault is to contact the USDA in Phoenix. 02:03:52
On that for and they're really good to work with and and and check that out as well. I mean we've seen them fund a lot of 02:03:59
different things. 02:04:03
And if there's a way, any way that we can start whittling away at this balance and see where we can go from there, it would help 02:04:08
us. I know it's a. 02:04:12
As a county, you guys agree? 02:04:17
I I do and I and I also appreciate these work sessions and I appreciate you coming to us for work session. 02:04:20
Because they fight for work session. Because how do you know what everybody needs unless and this gives you an opportunity to 02:04:27
bring it to. 02:04:30
The supervisors as well as to staff. 02:04:34
And so you know, if if, if it's something that that we can't, well, we have a lot more eyes, ears and people looking for, I can't. 02:04:37
And and so, yeah, thank you very much and and so you know we have Amy, our grant writer and everybody here. So you know we we can 02:04:46
we can start looking. 02:04:51
And the good thing is we don't have to make a decision today, but we can look at different options and maybe different funding 02:04:57
sources. So we appreciate that. Yeah. Thank you. 02:05:02
But I appreciate your your passion for what you're doing. It shows. 02:05:08
Thank you very much. 02:05:12
There she is. Go ahead, Jessica. 02:05:13
Yeah. 02:05:16
Bing. 02:05:22
If you can. 02:05:28
I'm 60 years old. 02:05:30
If they. 02:05:32
The authority to. 02:05:36
To provide those services. So it's the security and you're contracting, you're getting considerations. 02:05:41
Instead of the county running their own programs, they're basically hiring the Senior Center so that they can run the program. 02:05:49
Thank you, Jessica. That makes sense. So what makes us unique is that with Miami and Globe had a junction. They're city run. We're 02:05:57
an independent nonprofit. 02:06:02
And so our support, again, the burden really falls on us to go out and get that funding and that support and those partnerships. 02:06:06
No. 02:06:15
Mr. Chairman, I think to it should be clear that. 02:06:16
This isn't a 1.4 million or nothing kind of a consideration. 02:06:21
That you're just asking for help towards this project and I think it would be good if we asked staff to investigate funding 02:06:27
sources and how and and give us options that we can. So this work session is to really just make us aware. 02:06:35
Of the great things you're doing and what you want to do. And and staff will make us aware what our options are. Yeah, that's 02:06:44
wonderful. And again, we wanted to come and show you what the big number was, how far we've gotten on our own. And to your point, 02:06:49
it's not. 02:06:53
If we don't get 1.49. 02:06:59
Then we, you know it's it's not all or nothing. I mean we're continuing to piece things together. So any support we get just 02:07:01
thrilled and so yeah, so I get that as well, but I always looked at the end end product too. 02:07:07
Now getting that building built right, so. 02:07:14
And you know like on your option 3 on the slide where you can you know come up with 500,000 now, 500,000 next year. 02:07:16
Fine and dandy, but we've all seen the difference in prices and cost and inflation and all that. And the next thing you know, you 02:07:24
might be well above what you originally needed to finish a job that's already started. Yeah, and exactly right. I mean, as we say, 02:07:30
we've reduced our footprint already because of the expansion and costs. 02:07:35
But if we were building this building 4 years ago, we'd basically be fully funded right now. 02:07:42
Unfortunately we're not right. We didn't have the you know 2.3 million that we have in the reserve right now for us. We didn't 02:07:47
have that four years ago. But yeah, it's it's a bit of a moving target as the costs continue to kind of we're hoping they're the 02:07:53
costs aren't outpacing our progress. Well, I would hope not either but I don't know you know so well thank you both for for here 02:07:59
and and I'm sure we look forward to more discussions. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Moving on 02:08:05
to. 02:08:11
Information discussion regarding the bid process and prospective timelines for IT for the facilities, departments, capital 02:08:17
improvement. 02:08:21
Projects Joseph. 02:08:26
Good morning, Chairman. We're supervisors. 02:08:28
So today what we're going to be presenting is just a a real basic baseline. 02:08:32
For our procurement process through capital projects. 02:08:37
They're kind of the decision matrix that kind of goes with that and. 02:08:41
A couple of things to highlight with it is the. 02:08:46
Pre and post of that procurement process. So we're not going to dive too far into the procurement itself. 02:08:51
But we're going to be able to highlight that process and give a tentative time frame what we look at and how long it takes. And 02:08:59
with that being said, if you have any questions along the way. 02:09:04
Please let me know and I'll be happy to answer it and. 02:09:09
At the end we'll also have a a moment for comments. 02:09:13
So here from initiation project request, one of the first things we look at is if it's over 5000 so. 02:09:19
Throughout this entire process, we're looking at our procurement thresholds. 02:09:26
And also networking with our procurement team. 02:09:31
So if it's under 5000, we start looking at a completely different purchase procurement pathway. Usually they're pretty quick with 02:09:34
that with our side and the procurement team. 02:09:39
If we're over 5000. 02:09:44
We immediately start looking at higher approval and thresholds, so county manager approval over 5000 will be required. 02:09:46
And that's at a verbal approval that's not. 02:09:55
Necessarily a sign off or official for example like some of our 12 or 25,050 thousand or 100,000 so so if we just had an example 02:10:00
of the 5000. 02:10:07
If it's over, you go with a county manager approval. 02:10:13
If it is A to initiate a capital project. 02:10:17
So just because it's over 5000 doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be a capital project. There's quite a few departments where 02:10:21
they have internal funding and sourced from their their department. So it can be $15,000 and it won't necessarily fall into the 02:10:29
capital. So Joseph, if I can and maybe Mariner or any want to answer this, but why $5000? 02:10:37
Why? 02:10:46
Why is it $5000? Why isn't it 10,000 or 25? 02:10:47
It so from our point of view it falls into policy like that policy is derived from. I'd have to dig deeper into that. 02:10:51
Is that our policy man that does this and so? 02:10:59
So it's us that have control over that $5000 mark. I mean as a board we have the. 02:11:02
The option if you will if we want to change that right from my understanding. 02:11:08
Yes. 02:11:13
OK, continue on. Thank you, Joseph. No problem. 02:11:14
So, so right there, we determine whether it's going to be capital or if it's going to be internal. Now there's a few things to 02:11:18
keep in mind. Again as we go through this. This is just the baseline. There's plenty of. 02:11:25
Decisions or options or thresholds that. 02:11:32
Come along and get us in a completely different branch. We would easily be into about 25 slides by the time we started. 02:11:36
Taking all of the options. So again, this is just the baseline and this can take anywhere from one to six months. 02:11:43
If everything is smooth, it's it's not a complex. 02:11:51
Scope of work. We can do it in weeks, but we're usually landing about the one month as an average. 02:11:55
So one of the first things that we step into if we get approval, save this project that we're given an example for the baseline. 02:12:03
This project meets all the requirements for a capital project. 02:12:11
A perfect example is an HVAC system. 02:12:17
That we're looking to replace is going to go over $50,000 threshold. 02:12:19
Uh. 02:12:23
That is another option where it's a direct replacement. 02:12:24
So there again, this is just an example of so many different ways it can go. So direct replacement pretty straightforward. We're 02:12:27
not going to go into developing a significant amount of scope of work. We're not going to go into some of the the the project is a 02:12:32
fresh project kickoff. 02:12:37
What this will outline is a perfect example is going to be up in our pacing project for the courts. 02:12:44
Or the solo remodel. 02:12:51
There we have to develop. 02:12:53
Scope of work. That's in line with what we're trying to do. Make sure that it's going to match with. 02:12:56
The strategic plan of the county and also meet all the procurement requirements code and a few other things that are tied into 02:13:02
that just as a real quick highlight that's that can take architectural. 02:13:08
Project meeting feasibility. Developing the project charter with the customer. So there is a lot that goes into some of these 02:13:15
steps in their full processes and they can be time consuming. But. 02:13:21
Something to note. 02:13:27
We're always looking at ways that we can chip away at that time and become more efficient. With that being said, there's just some 02:13:29
of these options. 02:13:33
That required that time and it's good for us to take the time that it's that requires such as engineering and some of the 02:13:37
architectural. But something to keep in mind some of the ways that we're streamlining this process as we're starting to cut 02:13:42
through these is we're looking at some of the architectural engineering and really identifying hey, do we really need to have 02:13:47
this. 02:13:52
Go through an engineering process. 02:13:57
Do we need to go through an architectural process? 02:13:59
And that's a very simple question on the front end of it, just hearing it out loud. 02:14:02
But there's a lot that goes into that from the team evaluating it, looking at some of the solutions and some of those options. 02:14:06
But that's an opportunity for us to have not just a time safe but a cost savings. 02:14:13
And identifying the ones that do require it. 02:14:19
So. 02:14:23
Again, anything that's revealed with 50,000, if that's a yes then we're going to go through agenda request bid. 02:14:24
For a scope of work. 02:14:30
And with the scope of work and then also BS approval to go out for bid. So those are two different steps. One to come before you 02:14:32
to say, hey, we want to present this project. It meets some of the criteria for a strategic plan, aligns with our mission, our 02:14:38
capabilities and This is why we want to do it. 02:14:43
Once we go out for bid, that can take anywhere from three to six weeks depending on what we receive and how we go out for that bid 02:14:49
once we get those. 02:14:53
We come back to the BIOS. 02:14:58
And then we ask for permission again. 02:15:00
To be able to proceed with whatever recommendation. 02:15:03
That we're going to be presenting towards you. 02:15:07
As a board. 02:15:10
If it's under 50,000, the scope of work and everything that goes along with it. 02:15:12
Allows us to stay underneath that threshold and that approval process looks a lot different. We're able to present the same thing 02:15:17
that we would be presenting to the Board of Supervisors. 02:15:22
We're able to present that to you. 02:15:27
County management and administration. And so that that $50,000 mark is the exact issue that I had with the vet center when we 02:15:29
upped it to 100,000. So it's the same principle as the $5000 mark. 02:15:36
That's all under policy that we have control of as a port. 02:15:43
Roger that. Yesterday. So, so this is really good because if you look at that right there, you can see kind of the timeline that's 02:15:47
on the screen. 02:15:51
But it can also be a little longer than that, too. At times it absolutely can. So there's so many variables that go into this 02:15:56
process. They can certainly be longer, which I appreciate that, because that was the frustration I was having with that particular 02:16:01
project. 02:16:06
It was just taking a ton of time. 02:16:12
To to do that and so as we look at those figures. 02:16:15
You can, you can see the issue there, Roger that. It's something that we brought before the OS a couple of months ago on on one of 02:16:20
our work sessions. 02:16:24
Is we're working with the admin team to identify ways that we can streamline that? 02:16:29
We've come up with some really good solutions. I don't want to dive too far into those solutions quite yet. It'd be premature 02:16:35
before we can really hammer out a few details. 02:16:39
But there is an opportunity for us to be able to support programs within the county and get some of our projects streamlined and 02:16:44
fast track and I say fast track. 02:16:48
Significant reduction in time. 02:16:52
But more importantly or just as important, is the cost that's related to that time? 02:16:55
Mr. Should have a question, Ohh, absolutely. 02:17:00
Ohh, OK. This is based and we're doing the 50,000 and that's fine and and like you say you're trying to streamline more. 02:17:03
I guess kind of a side question is for the the project that supervisor client is working on up north has has the increase of of 02:17:11
the. 02:17:16
Approval amount. 02:17:22
Has it helped streamline or has it made a whole lot of difference or? 02:17:24
I guess that's my question. Chairman I Supervisor Humphrey, Absolutely great question. 02:17:30
It has helped significantly. 02:17:36
A real basic example is some of our furniture procurement just went. 02:17:39
Just over that 50,000. So we're gonna have to go through this process. 02:17:45
Significant length difference in time. 02:17:50
That would have put us past what our expected open dates or construction was streamlined. 02:17:53
We're looking at a July time frame. 02:18:00
But the furniture wasn't going to be there. 02:18:03
So we're looking at lining up some of the construction with the opening. 02:18:05
And lining up the operations. So we have a lease that's going to be coming up, up in that location and getting some of our 02:18:10
maintenance operations going. So it has made a huge difference in the time. 02:18:15
OK, so. 02:18:22
Mr. Chair, I may continue. Well, absolutely. 02:18:25
So, so then. 02:18:27
I I guess then that that that's good for a particular project. 02:18:30
But maybe not necessary for. 02:18:35
For everything. 02:18:40
The the the increase in in the value. 02:18:43
I mean, like you said, it's helped expedite that project as far as buying furniture and stuff that was. 02:18:47
Marginally over 50, but like I say from from day-to-day youth. 02:18:53
To increase the 50,000 to 100,000 for Opera for everyday operating cost. 02:18:59
Would it streamline things, would it would it not, would I mean because it seems like we everything is designed on the 50 and it 02:19:04
seemed to work pretty well, but you say it's streamlined the the, the project that it was specifically accepted for and I guess 02:19:11
what I'm fishing for. 02:19:18
Is so, so that 100,000. 02:19:25
Umm. 02:19:28
Helped that project so. 02:19:29
I'm just wondering going to the future to be able to make that for particular projects. 02:19:31
Expediting special projects instead of just day-to-day counting functions. 02:19:40
Roger that. So with that supervisor, Humphrey. 02:19:46
Whatever threshold is there, where? 02:19:50
We have solutions and ways to work with it. 02:19:53
Um. 02:19:55
I can't definitively say if we increase it to 100,000 or 200,000 whether that would streamline every single project. 02:19:57
The direction we're trying to take all of our construction projects. 02:20:05
Is so that it is one cost upfront? 02:20:09
The challenge that we're running into is we're transitioning from an old way of business to something that is completely 02:20:12
different. 02:20:15
And the old way of business was it's very easy to piece meal a project to get it moving forward. 02:20:18
But we run into significant challenges when it comes to the timelines and the cost. 02:20:24
So in those examples. 02:20:29
Increasing it. 02:20:31
Without a doubt, would make a huge would make an impact on our timeline. 02:20:32
If we continue the pathway that we're streamlining. 02:20:37
There there may be certain situations where it would be helpful, but I I think. 02:20:44
That would be something that would be left up to the board to decide. So I believe and and Michael you can correct me if I'm 02:20:50
wrong. 02:20:53
But that there's another project comes comes to us. 02:20:57
And. 02:21:00
We're kind of looking at that time frame again. 02:21:02
We can go back in there and and change that to to the $100,000 for that for another particular project we can work. 02:21:05
Work with that if we we need to, right? 02:21:13
Chairman, Members of the board. 02:21:17
Yeah, that'd be a consideration the board can have obviously, but I wanna clarify a little bit something that we're talking about 02:21:19
the $100,000. 02:21:23
Mark that the board sat for the Pleasant Valley retreat was to sign contracts to procurement process as a whole. 02:21:29
That's right. As you you know as you asked Joseph questions and right had in mind that it's for the contracts that the county